Authorities believe a convicted child sex offender cut off his GPS monitor before escaping from his work schedule at an Amazon warehouse in San Diego last month, sparking a manhunt.
Now, the missing man has been found dead in a San Diego riverbed, San Diego County Sheriff’s Office officials said in a news release Tuesday.
Merle Wakefield, 69, was convicted in 1980 and 1991 of indecent assault on a child under 14 and violent rape.
He has been on a conditional release program since the fall of 2024 but remains under strict restrictions and is under the supervision of Liberty Healthcare. He was eventually allowed to work at Amazon, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, Wakefield was working at an Amazon facility in the Rancho Bernardo community at 3:30 a.m. on September 25 when his GPS device issued a “tamper mode” alert.
Sheriff’s officials said Liberty Healthcare responded to the scene and discovered Wakefield’s GPS device had been removed and he had disappeared from the scene, at which point the company alerted authorities.
His body was found near the 4800 block of Fairmount Avenue at Montezuma Road. The Sheriff’s Office said it could not release any further information because the investigation into Wakefield’s death is ongoing.
The California State Hospital Authority contracts with Liberty Healthcare to supervise people convicted of certain crimes and those with serious mental health problems. Those designated by the state as “sexually violent predators” can be sent to state hospitals indefinitely by county superior courts.
If a court determines that an individual is eligible for treatment in a less restrictive setting, they may be placed in the community and receive treatment and supervision from a contractor.