Update, Sept. 7, 1 a.m. Mark Jekabson is now in custody at Santa Rita Jail being held on suspicion of attempted murder and causing harm to an elder adult, according to Alameda County jail records. He is being held without bail and is set for arraignment Monday at Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland. Police took Jekabson into custody in San Leandro at 8 p.m.
Original story, Sept. 6, 11:54 a.m. A man sought after the stabbing of a 76-year-old North Berkeley woman Tuesday morning was picked up in Pinole on Wednesday afternoon, authorities report.
The woman who was stabbed was the man’s mother, according to community members and scanner recordings reviewed by Berkeleyside. Police have declined to confirm the relationship due to the ongoing investigation, but say the incident was “not random.”
Pinole police apprehended Mark Edward Jekabson, 42, at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, said Officer Byron White, Berkeley police spokesman. The woman who was stabbed was in stable condition as of Thursday, he said.
White said BPD had obtained a warrant for Jekabson’s arrest, and that Pinole was responding to some type of call for service when they found him. White directed further inquiries to the Pinole Police Department.
Pinole Police Lt. Matt Avery said officers found Jekabson when a Public Works employee asked them to check on a man who was bleeding from the forehead in Fernandez Park, a 6-acre park at 595 Tennent Ave. After police spoke to the man, they identified him and determined he had a warrant for the Berkeley case. Avery said Pinole police took Jekabson to Kaiser Richmond for medical treatment and turned him over to BPD.
Jekabson does not appear in Inmate Locator, the Alameda County system online that lists in-custody suspects, so no further details were available about his case or court dates. There have been indications he has struggled with mental health issues and may have been taken for a psychiatric evaluation, but Berkeleyside could not confirm this as of publication time.
White said the case “remains under active investigation.”
Shortly before 3 a.m. Tuesday, police got a call about a woman “screaming for help” in the 1500 block of Edith Street, near Vine Street. When officers got there, they found the 76-year-old woman, who had been stabbed.
According to unconfirmed scanner traffic reviewed by Berkeleyside, the person who called police locked himself inside a closet while waiting for officers to arrive.
When police got to the scene, Jekabson was already gone, according to the recordings. He had jumped off a back balcony and fled. Police followed a blood trail east on Vine Street past Martin Luther King Jr. Way but eventually lost the trail. Tuesday evening, a resident on Edith Street found what was described on the radio as a bloody backpack, and turned it over to police.
The woman who was stabbed had injuries to both arms, and police had to apply a tourniquet to one of them when they found her, according to the scanner recordings.
According to Alameda County court records online, Jekabson has been arrested several times, but always for minor offenses: in 2007 on suspicion of battery and assault with a deadly weapon; and in 2016 in connection with having a concealed dirk or dagger and assault, in two separate cases. He was on probation until June.
Berkeleyside will update this article if additional information becomes available.
This story was updated shortly after publication with information from Pinole PD.