The East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) Police Department announced last month they made a third arrest in connection with the murder of Alameda resident Donald Stanifer in July 2020.

The EBRPD Police Department arrested Ezekiel Akil Espinoza on Nov. 18 on a no-bail felony warrant as an accessory for the murder of Stanifer. Akil Espinoza is currently being held at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. According to court records, via a Mercury News report, EBRPD Police Department officers discovered Akil Espinoza’s DNA under the trunk liner in Stanifer’s vehicle, after his body was discovered. A warrant was issued for Akil Espinoza, 23, in August.

“EBRPD Detectives and Officers have completed hundreds of hours of investigation, interviews, and follow-up since Donald was murdered — the efforts of everyone involved in this case were outstanding,” wrote EBRPD in a statement online. “Our hearts go out to Donald’s family, friends, and the entire community of Alameda.”

Akil Espinoza is the third suspect arrested for Stanifer’s murder. Elijah Jordan-Brooks, 22, of Pittsburg and Marquise Johnson-Simon, 23, of Oakland, were arrested in connection with Stanifer’s death in May 2021. More than a year later, in June of this year, both men were officially charged with murder for Stanifer’s death. However, at an Aug. 12 hearing, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon reduced Johnson-Simon’s charge to accessory after the fact, after his attorney successfully argued that Johnson-Simon’s DNA under Stanifer’s shirt only proves he was at the scene of the crime but was not enough evidence to prove he was involved in the actual killing (“One of Two Suspects in Alameda Man’s Killing Freed,” Oct. 19; https://alamedasun.com/news/one-two-suspects-alameda-man%E2%80%99s-killi...).

Johnson-Simon was released under electronic monitoring on Sept. 7. Jordan-Brooks still faces a murder charge and is awaiting trial while being held at Santa Rita Jail.

Stanifer’s body was found in his vehicle with fatal stab wounds in Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve in the Oakland hills on July 16, 2020 ("Missing Alamedan Found Dead," July 16, 2020; https://alamedasun.com/news/missing-alamedan-found-dead). Stanifer, a 2017 Encinal High School graduate, was reported missing by his mother on July 7, 2020. He had not been seen or heard from in the two days prior. The EBRPD Police Department did not give a definitive motive for Stanifer’s murder but believe it might have been a robbery because several of Stanifer’s belongings were missing when his body was discovered, according to court records.

The Alameda County DA Investigator’s office and the Oakland Police Department assisted the EBRPD Police Department in making the arrest of Akil Espinoza. EBRPD asks anyone with more information to call their Investigations Unit at 510-690-6521.