Police arrested Christopher Hollis, the second man charged in the murder of Dartmouth student Meleia Willis-Starbuck '07, after a Friday night traffic stop in Fresno, Calif.
According to Fresno Police reports, Hollis initially gave officers a false name when his car was pulled over under suspicion of a hit and run. However, police quickly discovered the suspect's true identity and arrested him promptly.
Police held Hollis overnight in Fresno and then transported him to Berkeley City Jail Saturday morning, where he is being held without bail until his arraignment Tuesday at Alameda County Superior Court.
Hollis, 22, had avoided law-enforcement authorities since the July 17 murder.
After she and her friends were arguing with some young men on a Berkeley street that evening, Willis-Starbuck allegedly called her friend Hollis for help. Witnesses say she asked Hollis to "bring the heat," which some have interpreted as a request for him to bring a gun.
Hollis and 20-year-old Christopher Wilson, also charged with homicide, had reportedly been attending a party on the University of California Berkeley's north campus that evening, within a five-minute drive of the crime scene.
Soon after, Hollis allegedly arrived on the scene in a car driven by Wilson. According to witnesses, Hollis got out of the car and fired multiple shots, one of which killed Willis-Starbuck, who had requested his presence in the first place.
Authorities have not yet divulged whether they believe Hollis was aiming at Willis-Starbuck or at the young men with whom she was arguing. According to Joe Okies, a Berkeley police public information officer, that sort of information will not be presented until the trial.
Wilson, the suspected getaway driver, surrendered himself to authorities in July after a warrant was issued for his arrest. He is now free on $326,000 bail.
Hollis has been charged under section 187a of the California Penal Code, a nonspecific murder charge that applies both to first- and second-degree murder cases, Okies said.
Willis-Starbuck, Hollis and Wilson have all known each other since they attended Berkeley High School together.
"Ultimately, we knew that it was only a matter of time before Hollis was arrested for his role in the death of Meleia," Detective Lionell Dozier, the case's lead investigator commented. "We are happy to see closure in this phase of the investigation."
