Woman dead in Berkeley's first homicide of 2024
Police arrested 23-year-old Gabriella Riemer at 10:45 p.m. Sunday on suspicion of murder, according to jail records online.
Berkeley police are investigating a homicide that left a woman dead inside her apartment on Sunday afternoon, according to community reports and emergency dispatch recordings.
Official details remain slim but, according to radio traffic reviewed by The Berkeley Scanner, a woman called police shortly before 2:50 p.m. saying that her mother had tried to kill her inside an apartment in the 1300 block of University Avenue (near Acton Street).
Responding officers found the mother, a 60-year-old Berkeley woman, dead in her apartment, according to radio traffic. She had serious facial lacerations and was disfigured.
Scroll down for updates to the story.
According to dispatch recordings, building security staff said the daughter was "covered in blood" when she called police.
The daughter had no wounds on her body, according to emergency radio traffic. She eventually told first responders that the blood belonged to her mother.
A dispatcher told officers she found a history of reports of the mother having been victimized by her daughter, according to radio traffic.
Clockwise from upper left: (1) Police vehicles parked at the scene of a fatal stabbing in the 1300 block of University Avenue, in Berkeley, California, on Sunday, March 17, 2024. (2) Security guards talk in the lobby. (3) A resident looks out at police vehicles parked outside. (4) A police officer talks on his cellphone outside 1370 University. David Yee
Berkeley police have called in homicide detectives to take over the investigation, which is Berkeley's first homicide of the year.
The Berkeley Police Department has not responded to multiple requests for information.
But other community members confirmed that a homicide investigation was underway.
The Scanner will update this story when more details are provided.
Berkeley police are investigating a homicide inside an apartment complex on University Avenue. Ariel Nava Photo
Update, 7:30 p.m. Police have confirmed that one person was detained in connection with the fatal stabbing Sunday, which took place around 2:45 p.m. in the 1300 block of University.
No other suspects are at large, police said, and there is "no continued danger" to the community.
BPD declined to release or confirm any other details as of Sunday night, citing the ongoing investigation.
Update, March 18, 3:30 a.m. Berkeley police arrested 23-year-old Gabriella Riemer at 10:45 p.m. Sunday on suspicion of murder, according to jail records online.
She is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday, jail records show.
Update, March 19: Police confirmed that the name of the woman who was killed was Heather Riemer. The Scanner will continue to follow the story.
CORRECTION: Gabriella Riemer's last name is spelled incorrectly as Reimer in jail records. The story has been fixed.
Emilie Raguso
