On-the-run sexual predator found dead in San Diego riverbed, authorities say – NBC 7 San Diego

On-the-run sexual predator found dead in San Diego riverbed, authorities say  NBC 7 San Diego

Merle Wakefield was missing for nearly a month after the SVP cut off his ankle monitor and disappeared from his job at an Amazon facility in Rancho Bernardo. Authorities were searching for Merle Wakefield for nearly a month after the Sexually Violent Predator cut off his ankle monitor and disappeared from his job at an Amazon facility in Rancho Bernardo. A state-designated sexually violent predator who went on the lam in Rancho Bernardo last month while on supervised release from custody was found dead this week in a Talmadge-area riverbed, authorities reported Tuesday. The body of Merle Wakefield, 69, was discovered at about 9:30 a.m. Monday off the 4800 block of Fairmount Avenue in San Diego, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Office.

A ruling on his cause of death was on hold pending autopsy results. Stream San Diego News for free, 24/7, wherever you are with NBC 7. He had been at large since early on the morning of Sept. 25, when he managed to remove his mandated GPS tracker and escape from his job, which he was working under the auspices of the California Conditional Release Program. Law enforcement sources close to the case tell NBC 7 he was working at an Amazon processing facility in Rancho Bernardo. CrimeStoppers was offering a reward of up to $1,000