"His name was Emmanuel Padilla-Maciel, and at the time he was a 19-year-old known to the woman alone in her living room with him as a laid back, chill type of person. She asked him what was causing him to behave so uncharacteristically. What followed, according to her court testimony, was a chilling confession to a homicide that occurred just two days earlier in the same city where they were watching TV."
"By coincidence, the victim happened to be her childhood friend: John JJ Creech Jr., whose killing would go unsolved for years, despite the alleged confession, and lead to the proliferation of familiar Justice for JJ banners and online flyers being shared by loved ones. The woman shared the information, not with police but instead with one of Creech's loved ones, who turned it over to investigators."
"Padilla-Maciel was a suspect but stayed out of jail until 2023, after police spoke to eyewitnesses and matched a spent shell casing in Padilla-Maciel's bedroom to the homicide scene. That year, Padilla-Maciel was arrested at the southern border, while returning to the United States from Mexico, according to police. Finally, at Padilla-Maciel's preliminary hearing in June, the woman took the witness stand, publicly sharing her story for the first time."
Retired homicide detective Joe Kenda narrated a Homicide Hunter episode on Dec. 9, 2019, as a Hayward viewer, Emmanuel Padilla-Maciel, grew nervous. The woman with him testified that Padilla-Maciel confessed to a homicide two days earlier, the victim being her childhood friend John JJ Creech Jr. The killing remained unsolved for years despite the alleged confession, prompting Justice for JJ banners and online flyers. The woman relayed the confession to a loved one of Creech, who informed investigators. Padilla-Maciel became a suspect but avoided arrest until 2023, when eyewitness statements and a shell casing match led to his detention.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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