Oakland man convicted of killing ex-fiancée, stuffing body in trunk of her car

OAKLAND A man was convicted Thursday of killing his ex-fianc e with his fists before stuffing the woman s body in the trunk of her car An Alameda County jury uncovered Richard Debnan Charles guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Anika Crane who disappeared for several months in March before her body was discovered Behind dark-rimmed glasses the -year-old defendant sat silently without handcuffs in a black-and-white checkered shirt as Judge Clifford Blakely walked him through post-conviction proceedings His conviction came a day after a jury had begun deliberating whether Charles had murdered Crane a -year-old Oakland resident whose three-month disappearance had led friends and family particular of whom were present in court Thursday to seek information about her whereabouts on social media In addition to cell phone records and DNA evidence the prosecution s circumstance relied heavily on surveillance footage that demonstrated the estranged couple driving separately to Charles home after he had confronted her at an Oakland liquor store on March when Crane was last seen Their off-and-on relationship had appeared to come to an end not long before that day though Crane had stayed at Charles home an RV the night before Prosecutors alleged that Charles killed Crane that night enlisting help from an unnamed individual to dispose of the body while spending hours cleaning his home Crane was never seen alive after that night but prosecutors reported the surveillance footage shows Charles loading something into the trunk of her Ford Fiesta before driving the car to an unincorporated area of the county between San Leandro and Hayward The car was discovered in June on a frontage road below Interstate Crane dead inside was determined to have been killed from blunt-force trauma The defendant chose to use his fists over and over and over on Anika Crane until she took her last breath Deputy District Attorney Colleen Clark declared Wednesday during closing arguments And then the defendant took very calculated and very deliberate procedures to attempt to cover up his crime and to deflect blame away from him Charles attorney Miki Tal unsuccessfully argued there was no motive offered by prosecutors and very little blood unveiled at the crime scene But the jury returned a guilty verdict within a day of beginning deliberations Judge Blakely scheduled Charles sentencing hearing for July