2023 Davis, California stabbings

The first victim, unhoused African-American male David Henry Breaux, 50, was found dead on Thursday, April 27, at 11:20 am. It is unknown when the stabbing actually occurred. After a welfare check was called in, Davis Police officers found the body of Breaux on a bench in Central Park, located in downtown Davis.[4] He had suffered multiple stab wounds. The victim, known as "The Compassion Guy," was unhoused and was known to sleep on the bench. Breaux was a fixture on the streets of Davis, where he greeted people and asked for them to share their personal views on compassion.[5]

Two days after the murder of Breaux, the second stabbing occurred on Saturday, April 29, at Sycamore Park in Davis. The crime happened at approximately 9:15 pm. The victim was identified as Karim Abou Najm, 20, a student at UC Davis and a graduate of Davis High School.[6] He was biking home from an undergraduate conference where he had won an award for his outstanding research and development of software designed to help hearing-impaired people. Like Breaux, he also suffered many stab wounds across his entire body. As the attacker fled, a man who helped Najm at the scene got a description that matched Reales.[7]

On May 1, shortly before midnight, Kimberlee Guillory, a 64-year-old White un-housed woman, was stabbed through her tent at a homeless encampment at 2nd and L Street on the outskirts of downtown Davis. She survived the attack and called 911 to report the stabbing. She was then hospitalized in critical condition. The suspect was spotted by a group of people at the encampment who got a description of the attacker, which lined up with the description given by the eyewitness at the Najm crime scene.[8]

The suspect, Carlos Reales Dominguez, is accused of two murders and one attempted murder. He had previously attended UC Davis until being academically dismissed 1-2 days before the attacks.

Reales Dominguez, 21 at the time, was apprehended on May 3, 2023, after a five-day manhunt that comprised Davis Police, various surrounding law enforcement agencies and the FBI. He was detained for the night and then formally arrested for all three crimes on May 4, 2023. The suspect has only been charged and is awaiting trial. If convicted, Reales Dominguez will be classified as a serial killer.[10]

On May 3, 2023, Reales Dominguez was arrested after being spotted by at least 15 citizens who called the police tip line and reported that he matched the widely circulated description of the assailant. Reales Dominguez was lurking at Sycamore Park, the location of the Najm murder. Police located him nearby the park on a street in a residential area. He was still wearing the same clothes, including the striped Adidas track pants, from the night of the attack on Guillory, which helped bystanders identify him. He had a "large knife" in his possession at the time of the stop, and police said he also had wounds on his hands and wrists. Reales Dominguez is currently being held at the Yolo County jail.

Reales Dominguez was a third year at UC Davis, though on April 25, 2023, he was “separated for academic reasons” from the university, according to a UC Davis press release. A student directory listed Reales Dominguez as "a sophomore studying biological sciences." Prior to that, he graduated from Castlemont High School in Oakland, California, where he played varsity football.