Camera system leads to arrests in San Pablo freeway slaying

SAN PABLO, Calif. - Kevin Santisteban died after being found shot in a car in Richmond. Two friends who were with him told police they were on I-80 in San Pablo when they were attacked.

It wasn't much to go on at first. 

"Detectives had virtually no crime scene to go off of and very little witnesses," said San Pablo police Capt. Brian Bubar. 

But Bubar said investigators quickly turned to the department's network of 220 surveillance cameras, as well as private footage.

They found video showing the victims in a Kia Optima driving in a residential neighborhood. Cameras also show them being followed by a second car, an Infiniti.

"At each location, the suspect vehicle is traveling behind them," Bubar said.

As the Kia makes a turn from San Pablo Avenue onto I-80, the Infiniti does the same.

"The victims had no idea they were being followed," Bubar said.

And within moments, someone from the Infiniti opens fire on the Kia near San Pablo Dam Road. The gunfire was captured by ShotSpotter.

"This vehicle was the vehicle that they intended to shoot at, and they waited until they got onto the freeway in San Pablo to conduct that crime," Bubar said.

Police pieced it all together with technology.

"ShotSpotter later advised us exactly where on the freeway the shooting occurred," Bubar said.

Detectives saw the Infiniti traveling in an unusual fashion as it approached the victims' car.

"The lights of the vehicle were turned off while driving on the freeway, and then turned the lights on in the middle of the frame,' Bubar said.

Police used cameras to zoom in on the license plate of the Infiniti.

That led to them Jorge Vazquez of Fairfield and his girlfriend Camile McAlister. Although a motive for the shooting isn't known, both have been charged with murder as a result of high-tech sleuthing.

"We were able to find out and recreate the travel and the path of the victim and the suspects," Bubar said.

And because video allegedly shows the couple following the victims before the shooting, Contra Costa County prosecutors have also charged them with the special circumstances of lying in wait and a drive-by murder. If convicted, the couple could face life without parole or the death penalty.