Skyline murder mystery: Pacifica man could face death penalty, DA seeking motive

Booked into San Mateo County Jail Thursday on no bail status, Malik Dosouqi was taken into custody after he attempted to flee a scene where 31-year-old John Sione Pekipaki sustained stab wounds late Tuesday night. Law enforcement officials were investigating the stabbing death of 32-year-old Abdulmalek Nasher, whose body was found in the same area late Monday night, when they heard a man who was later identified as Pekipaki calling for help at approximately 11:55 p.m. June 18, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said prosecutors believe the evidence establishes Dosouqi’s responsibility for both murders but noted investigators have not yet found a connection between the two victims and Dosouqi, other than the fact that Dosouqi and Nasher are both from Pacifica. He added prosecutors will continue to look into possible motives for the murders and whether mental health could have played a role in the crimes.

“While we believe we have the person responsible, what we’re still working on is motive,” he said. “That continues to be a focal point of our investigation.”

Shortly after 11 p.m. June 17, a San Mateo County sheriff’s deputy driving on Skyline Boulevard spotted Nasher’s body near the El Corte de Madera Creek Preserve. Members of the Sheriff’s Office’s Major Crimes Unit and Crime Lab as well as staff from the San Mateo County Coroner’s and District Attorney’s Office began an investigation at the crime scene. The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office’s Emergency Services, K-9 and Air Support units were joined by the California Highway Patrol and San Mateo County SWAT teams to search for a suspect, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

At approximately 11 p.m. June 18, detectives directed patrol deputies to search for additional evidence at an area near the scene of Nasher’s homicide. Just before midnight, deputies heard a man calling for help and found Pekipaki, who died on scene, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies also spotted a man, later identified as Dosouqi, fleeing from the area in a car, which drove toward Pekipaki and two deputies near him. Another deputy shot at the car, and though Dosouqi was not hit, he drove the vehicle off the road and into a ditch. He was taken into custody and treated for a laceration on his arm before he was booked into San Mateo County Jail, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Wagstaffe said there is no reason to believe there could have been any other players in the crimes and said investigators are currently pursuing leads as to what Dosouqi might have done in the time between the two murders.

Dosouqi’s conviction of misdemeanor disturbing public peace related to a March 14 incident north of Half Moon Bay is the only case involving Dosouqi the District Attorney’s Office has reviewed, said Wagstaffe. Dosouqi is said to have been stepping into traffic on Highway 1 and trying to touch people before he physically resisted sheriff’s deputies responding to the scene. Dosouqi was sentenced to one year probation May 31, according to prosecutors.

Though Wagstaffe acknowledged murders have been reported from the area where Nasher and Pekipaki’s bodies were found, he noted they have dropped off significantly in the last 20 years or so. He recalled a 1986 murder of a 17-year-old girl that went cold for years before John William Kelley pleaded no contest in 2015 to the first degree murder of Annette Thur. Believed to have sexually assaulted and strangled Thur before leaving her body at an embankment just north of Alpine Road on Skyline Boulevard, Kelley was convicted of rape in Humboldt County nearly a decade after the murder in 1995.

Charged with the two murders as well as a use of a knife enhancement and special circumstance of multiple murders, Dosouqi faces life in prison without parole or the death penalty and will next appear in court Monday for arraignment, said Wagstaffe.

“This one hearkens back to a day gone by and we hoped would stay gone by,” he said.

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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