Update, May 17, 2022: Losvel Bethea was sentenced to nine years in prison on April 25, 2022, as part of a plea deal. He was convicted of attempted murder and sent to San Quentin State Prison, according to Alameda County court records.
Original story: A San Francisco man has been charged with attempted murder, carjacking, sexual assault and other serious crimes after authorities say he attacked his on-and-off girlfriend of many years and stabbed her ex-boyfriend in a fit of jealousy.
On Monday, the Alameda County district attorney’s office charged 32-year-old Losvel Bethea with attempted murder, by means of stabbing with a knife, in connection with a man identified in court papers as John Doe. Bethea was also charged with carjacking, forcible oral copulation, assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment by violence and kidnapping in connection with a woman identified in court papers as Jane Doe. He was also charged with several misdemeanors.
According to court papers, Bethea had picked up the woman from work Jan. 18 and became angry when he learned she had spoken with an ex-boyfriend. He hit her in the mouth, police said, and forced her to give him the address where the ex-boyfriend lived. Bethea drove to the location, a home in Berkeley, police wrote, but the man wasn’t there. The woman tried to get out of the car, police said, but Bethea “pulled her back in” and threatened repeatedly to hurt her if she didn’t comply with his demands.
Police said Bethea, who was driving the woman’s car, then drove to another location in Berkeley where he forced her to perform oral sex on him and tell her ex-boyfriend “goodbye” while he made a recording of what she was doing. He then punched the woman and pulled her hair, according to police, and ultimately forced the top half of her body out of the car while threatening to “drag her” as he drove.
Police said Bethea started the car while the woman’s foot and leg were still in the vehicle, but she was able to escape as he began to drive. Bethea left the area with the woman’s Ford Fusion, police said.
The next day, according to California Highway Patrol Officer John Fransen, CHP Oakland officers were dispatched at about 12:10 p.m. to a disturbance call on the freeway near Emeryville where northbound Interstate 880 turns into eastbound Interstate 80. Officers found a man lying in the center median of the freeway, Fransen said. The man had multiple stab and slash wounds resulting in life-threatening injuries, Fransen said.
While officers were trying to save the man’s life, he “mumbled the name of the person who stabbed him,” Fransen said, identifying that person as Losvel Bethea. The wounded man was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
During the investigation, officers also found a Ford Fusion, which had been damaged in some type of collision, just east of where the wounded man was found.
By the time the CHP arrived, the suspect had fled the area. But officers followed his path of travel to the parking lot of a nearby Marriott hotel, Fransen said. In the parking lot, Fransen said, officers found a bloody knife and other evidence from the stabbing.
At that point, Fransen said, the officers called in detectives from the CHP Golden Gate division’s Special Investigations Unit and they took over the investigation.
The day after the stabbing, according to court papers filed by Berkeley sex crimes detectives, Bethea’s relatives convinced him to go into San Francisco General Hospital for an evaluation. The San Francisco County sheriff’s office arrested Bethea at that time for warrants related to the incidents from the preceding days.
As of Tuesday, Bethea remains in custody at Berkeley Jail and is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday at the East County Hall of Justice in Dublin, according to court records online. He is ineligible for release on bail because of the nature of the charges against him.
