One of SF’s most prolific teen criminals linked to death of Oakland baker
One of San Francisco’s most prolific teen criminals was suspected of involvement in the murder of Oakland baker Jen Engel in 2023, it has emerged.
Cameron Haynes’ arrest by homicide investigators, authorized by a judge, prevented him from appearing at a court hearing on auto burglary charges.
Oakland Police Department now confirm that that arrest was in connection with Ms Engel’s death. She was robbed of her purse in downtown Oakland on February 6 2023. After bravely chasing the perpetrators, she was caught in the door of their getaway car and dragged some 50 yards before hitting her head on the sidewalk.
She sustained significant head injuries and died three days later.
19-year-old Ishmael Burch was arrested on June 2 2023 and subsequently charged with murder. Haynes was arrested eight days later – based on a warrant signed by an Alameda judge who found there was probable cause to believe that he committed murder and robbery – and was later released.
Police said they were looking for two suspects.
Haynes, 19, was not in custody at the time of Ms Engel’s murder. After having been arrested with an accomplice for a lengthy string of New Year’s Eve auto burglaries in the city, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Brian Ferrall released him, on his own recognizance, on January 5 2023.
He notoriously failed to appear at a later hearing in connection with those charges because he had been arrested for murder in Oakland. It has now become apparent that this was related to the investigation into Engel’s killing.
Six months before Engel’s murder, prosecutors say that the duo of Haynes and Burch repeatedly assaulted two men and took their cellphones in Castro Valley. According to a police report, security camera footage shows Haynes punch a man in the head three times, forcing him to the ground, and Burch repeatedly punch another man in the face during the December 27 2022 incident.
In the months following Engel’s murder Haynes was arrested twice by SFPD in the aftermath of chaotic car chases in the city. An assault rifle and a pistol equipped with an extended magazine were found in the vehicles abandoned in each chase and were subsequently linked to Haynes by DNA.
On March 8 2023 SFPD officers on patrol in San Francisco’s Portola neighborhood were concerned to see a white Infiniti without a front license plate. They felt it matched the description of one of the vehicles involved in a car-to-car gun battle in the Mission just over a week earlier. The Infiniti fled on to Highway 101 and later was beached on a traffic island near the junction of Jerrold Avenue and Bayshore Boulevard. The pair – later identified as Haynes and the driver, Jacoby Jones – were detained nearby.
In the car police found a loaded .223 AR-15-style assault rifle, on the grip of which Haynes’ DNA was found, and a black Glock 23 Gen 5 .40mm handgun equipped with an extended magazine. Haynes’ cellphone was also seized by police.
On August 27 2023 SFPD officers in San Francisco’s Bayview district attempted to stop a stolen white Infiniti sedan which had been involved in multiple auto burglaries across the city. The driver failed to stop, attempted to flee, and crashed into another car. Two people ran from the car and evaded capture.
In the car police found a black Glock 23 Gen 5 .40mm pistol equipped with an extended magazine. Haynes’ DNA was found on the grip and magazine of the firearm. They also found a virtual reality headset stolen in an auto burglary and other items, including a cellphone, belonging to Haynes.
It later transpired that the stolen car had been seen the previous week being driven by a woman in the vicinity of the Alice Griffiths Apartments in San Francisco.
Haynes has not been charged in connection with Ms Engel’s murder and has pleaded ‘not guilty’ to all the charges he is presently facing in San Francisco.
His bid to have his auto burglary cases dealt with in Young Adult Court was rejected by Judge Bruce Chan. He will next appear before Judge Christine Van Aken on June 25 2024 to set his preliminary hearing date.
San Francisco Police Department declined to release Haynes’ mugshot.
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