A man in his 70s was found with shotgun wounds and dead in a Dana Point home Tuesday morning, Nov. 3 — with the suspect discovered 400-plus miles away in San Francisco later that day in the victim’s car, authorities said.
Acquaintances had found the man inside the home, near Breakers Isle and Niguel Shores Drive, and called the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which responded at about 10:30 a.m.
It appears the man had been shot several days before, authorities said.
The Sheriff’s Department, with the help of the San Francisco Police Department, found the victim’s car by looking through automated-license-plate-reader data and utilizing other undisclosed investigative techniques, authorities said.
Inside the car, the Sheriff’s Department said in a news release, was Cordell Dionte Studley, 32.
Authorities found several items inside the vehicle linking him to the crime, including a handgun. Studley was arrested on suspicion of homicide.
The relationship between Cordell and the victim was unclear.