Modesto homicide suspect apprehended by Oakland police after short standoff
Following a short standoff, Oakland police officers on Thursday apprehended Kelvin Simpson, suspected of killing his wife, Shannon Kalia Simpson, on Tuesday at the Modesto home they shared.
Kelvin Simpson fled Modesto in a 2013 black Hyundai Sonata, which police spotted in the 100 block of Foster Avenue in the Bay Area city. Officers communicating by radio said Simpson was unresponsive to verbal commands to get out of his car. He was described as being incoherent.
Eventually, the back window of the car was breached and pepper spray was deployed. Shortly afterward, the 51-year-old suspect put his hands to his face, at which point officers approached and cuffed him.
An ambulance was requested to take him to a hospital to be medically cleared. Modesto police Sgt. Steve Hinkley said Simpson would be booked into the Alameda County Jail and "eventually brought back to Modesto."
Shannon Simpson's body was found by her adult son Tuesday when other family members, concerned at not being able to reach her, asked him to check on his mother at her 1504 Coffee Villa Drive home in northeast Modesto.
The homicide was committed within a few hours prior to her son calling police around noon that day, said Hinkley, who's with the Police Department's Violent Crimes Unit.
Kelvin Simpson's Facebook profile says he's from Oakland. Before that, he lived in Washington state, Hinkley said, so statewide notifications were sent out in both states as he was sought.
Shannon Simpson's sister, Lisa Chu-Greenough, posted on Facebook Wednesday evening, "Please to all my friends down south. This disgusting excuse for a human being has connections down south. Seattle and Everett area. Please call 911 if you see his cowardly face and help our family find justice for our beloved Shannon!"
Her relatives had reason for concern because they knew about Kelvin Simpson's history of domestic violence, the sergeant said. Stanislaus Superior Court records show Kelvin Lee Simpson in November 2016 pleaded no contest to a felony charge of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse/cohabitant. He was arrested in July that year. He did about 10 months in jail on that conviction, Hinkley said.
Records also show that in September of that year, he faced charges including attempted murder, inflicting corporal injury on a spouse/cohabitant, assault likely to produce great bodily injury and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize. The case was dismissed in late November 2016.
At the time of Tuesday's homicide, there was no restraining order prohibiting Kelvin Simpson from contact with his 47-year-old wife, Hinkley said. He was under a "peaceful contact order," he said, which allowed them to live together.
"It appeared he lived there fairly regularly," Hinkley said.
Shannon Simpson's son also lived at the Coffee Villa house but left for work that day before she was killed.
An autopsy has been done, but out of respect for the family, police have not disclosed the cause of her death, Hinkley said.
Anyone with information about the case can call Crime Stoppers at 209-521-4636
This story was originally published April 5, 2018 at 11:06 AM with the headline "Modesto homicide suspect apprehended by Oakland police after short standoff."