Series of carjacking attempts led to capture of suspect in deputy’s shooting death

The man suspected in the fatal shooting of a Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputy in 2016 was captured 150 miles away after he carjacked one person and tried to take the cars of two others, authorities said.

New details in the manhunt for David Machado emerged in his preliminary hearing, which concluded Tuesday with Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Thomas Zeff declaring there was sufficient evidence for Machado to stand trial for the murder of Deputy Dennis Wallace.

Wallace was fatally shot shortly before 8:30 a.m. Nov. 13 of that year at Fox Grove Fishing Access near Hughson. While on patrol, the deputy had come across a white Dodge Caravan that Machado’s mother had reported stolen six days before.

When a backup deputy arrived, he found Wallace on the ground outside his car. Stanislaus County forensic pathologist Sung-Ook Baik testified Monday that Wallace suffered two gunshot wounds, one in the face and one in the neck.

Zeff scheduled Machado to return to court Dec. 3 for an arraignment hearing. Machado remains in custody at the county jail.

Machado also faces charges of carjacking, attempted carjacking and being a felon in possession of a gun. Authorities say Machado stole a car, provoking a statewide manhunt, before he was found in Tulare County about four hours after the shooting.

A jury will decide Machado’s fate if a plea deal cannot be reached before trial. There’s no indication either side is discussing a potential deal.

The murder charge includes a special circumstances allegation for the killing of a sheriff’s deputy who was on duty. Prosecutor John R. Mayne told the judge on Tuesday that the allegation — if Machado is convicted — could result in a maximum sentence of life in prison without the chance of parole.

The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office last month informed the court that it would not be seeking the death penalty against Machado.

Before Machado’s preliminary hearing ended, Zeff on Tuesday heard testimony about the carjacking and the attempted carjacking.

As authorities launched a search for the shooting suspect on the morning of Nov. 13, 2016, Cecilia Chaves was at her home with her family along Heston Way near Keyes. She testified that they spotted Machado jumping a fence into their back yard. He had a gun.

Her husband, Israel Chaves, was detailing his daughter’s car, a Kia Rio parked in their driveway. He said Machado was suddenly standing next to him asking for the car keys.

“I asked him, ‘Are you serious?’ ” the husband said. “He either nodded or said he was serious.”

He testified that he handed the car keys to Machado.

Cecilia Chaves said the car had sentimental value — it had belonged to their daughter’s grandmother — so she tried to stop Machado from leaving.

His wife testified that she tried to reason with Machado, telling him to leave without the car. She also offered to pray for him.

“He said, ‘No, I’m Satan’s son.’ You know, there’s no praying for him,” she said on the witness stand. “He was distraught.”

She said Machado told her that the government killed his family, and he kept apologizing. She said Machado then drove away, and the family called police.

Authorities found Machado’s mother’s van abandoned along Rhode Road, directly behind the Chaves home.

About four hours after the shooting, police received a report of an attempted carjacking in the parking lot of the R-N Market on Harvard Avenue in Lindsay, a small town about an hour south of Fresno in Tulare County.

Lindsay Police Officer Adam Romero testified that Sonia Perez had just placed a jug of water on the passenger side floorboard of her car, when she turned and realized a man with a long mustache was standing directly behind her. The man demanded her car keys and blocked her path.

Perez kept her keys, the man backed away, and she went back to the store.

Francisco Sanchez told police that a man accosted him in a dirt parking lot also near the market, according to Lindsay Police Officer Eliseo Mendez. He testified that the suspect hit him on his side with a black handgun while demanding the keys to his red truck.

Sanchez got away without giving up his keys.. Mendez testified that Perez and Sanchez immediately identified Machado as the suspect who accosted them.

Thomas Cribbs, then a California Highway Patrol officer, had received a briefing earlier that day about the deputy who had been shot in Stanislaus County. He testified that he initially felt there was no way the search for this shooting suspect would come to the Lindsay area, where he worked.

About 12:30 p.m. that day, Cribbs heard dispatchers report the attempted carjacking in Lindsay. He joined Lindsay police in their search for that suspect, a man with a Fu Manchu mustache. He said they found a man matching the description — later identified as Machado — in an alley less than a mile from the market.

Lindsay Police Lt. Ryan Heinks, who responded to help Cribbs, testified that Machado was face down on the ground in the alley when he moved in to handcuff the suspect. He said Machado had a folding knife in his back pocket and a .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun tucked in the center of his front waistband.

A ballistic expert said the shell casings found near Wallace’s body matched the handgun found with Machado in Tulare County.

This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 4:49 PM.