SAN DIEGO — We are learning more about the man wanted in connection with the murder of a San Diego mother south of the Mexican border.
Tyler Adams, 50, lived in a University Heights apartment with Raquel Sabean, 40, and the couple's infant child.
Sabean was found dead in her car at the beach in Tijuana on May 31, near an apartment recently rented by Adams, family members said.
On June 8, authorities in Mexico issued an Amber Alert for the baby, 7-month-old Valentina Sabean. The infant was found safe last week and remains in protective custody in Tijuana.
Adams, however, crossed into the United States using a fake identification card, under the alias Aaron Bain, according to the FBI.
“Until they capture him, the baby is not safe with any of us,” said the victim’s mother, Denise Hosking.
Hosking said she never suspected Adams – who she knew as Paul Phillips – was a danger to either her daughter or granddaughter. She said he loved the baby.
“I believe the reason my daughter is no longer here is because he wanted that baby. If you saw him with that baby, he was like no man I've ever seen. He was usually the one holding that baby. He would feed her. He would do everything,” Hosking said.
The FBI said Adams has used at least 15 fake names. Court records showed Adams in an ex-con, with criminal convictions for identity theft, grand theft and fraud. He has an active arrest warrant out of Hawaii for allegedly escaping from a work release program.
Racquel Sabean, the murder victim, had lived for years in an apartment on Texas Street in University Heights. Adams moved in a year and a half ago, the family said, and Sabean soon got pregnant.
The neighbors recalled Adams acting weird, rarely coming out of the apartment during daylight hours.
Kevon Jones lived a floor above the couple. She said Adams would frequently die his hair jet black.
“You know how you die your hair, and keep dying it, and it starts to look very funny. And that's how he looked. He looked very funny with his hair like that,” said Jones.
Sabean’s mother noticed the same thing.
“When I first saw pictures of (Adams) and Racquel, he had blonde hair. And then at some point, he had dark hair,” Hosking said.
Last month, police found Sabean's body in the back seat of a white Volkswagen Jetta in Playas de Tijuana near the apartment Adams had been renting.
Her remains were found in a red and white cooler, according to the victim's father, who said the autopsy showed his daughter’s neck had been broken.
“A 2008 white Volkswagen, like a sedan. And the container was red with a white top. And he put her inside,” said David Sabean, the father.
Sabean believes his daughter may have been killed in the University Heights apartment and driven across the border.
“The reason why I say she was murdered in San Diego is because the last time she was on Facebook was April 16. Then on April 17, they saw her car pass through Tijuana on the camera. They didn't see who was driving. But that was her mother's car, which she never drove into Tijuana. Her mother told her not to. There was no insurance on the car for Mexico,” said the father.
Sabean said San Diego police have not searched the Texas Street apartment for evidence of a murder.
“They went inside to look for Valentina, my granddaughter, but not to do any forensics or anything because their position is my daughter was murdered in Tijuana,” he said.
The baby girl remains safe in Tijuana. Sabean hopes the infant will be transferred this week to Child Protective Services in San Diego County.
Hosking, the victim’s mother, told CBS 8 that Adams had previously frequented Las Vegas, and she knew he held a drivers license out of Arizona.
Aliases, changing appearances, stolen identities
Authorities report that Tyler Adams has nearly a dozen aliases and identifications. Here’s a list of known names:
- Aaron Lee Bain
- Aaron Lee
- Aron Lee
- Paul Wilson Phipps
- Paul Wilson Phillps
- David Smith
- Dominic Braun
- David Phillips
- Kevin Schoolcraft
- Kevin Kennedy
- Michael Whittman
- Lance Irwin
- Brice Johnson
- Matthew Kashani
- Taylor Chase
- Joshua Smith
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