A San Francisco airport employee whose advances were repeatedly rejected by his co-worker has been accused of murdering her boyfriend as part of a “bizarre” plan to win her over.
Kevin Prasad, 31, and alleged co-conspirator Donovan Rivera, 25, have been charged with the murder of 31-year-old Mark Mangaccat after he was shot dead outside his home in Daly City, California, on April 25.
According to prosecutors, Prasad plotted to kill Mangaccat so he could end up with his girlfriend, Thandel Seinn, after she turned him down for several months.
“He was trying to start a relationship and she kept rebuffing him, telling him, ‘I have a boyfriend,’” San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said, reports the Sacramento Bee.
Prasad and Rivera are accused of following Mangaccat from his home to San Francisco International Airport, where he picked up Seinn from her final shift before the couple’s planned to relocate to Las Vegas with their 3-year-old child.
Prasad is then alleged to have shot Mangaccat in his driveway around five or six times
Both could both face the death penalty if found guilty of the murder of Mark Mangaccat in Daly City, California. San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office
“The working proposition for the motive is, ‘If I kill him and get him out of the way, then I could be there to start the relationship with the grieving widow,'” Wagstaffe said, reports ABC7 KGO TV. “That’s pretty bizarre.”
Prosecutors also charged Rivera, 25, with murder as he was allegedly aware of Prasad’s plan to “track and kill the victim,” and was with him at the time of the shooting, reports East Bay Times.
Speaking to KPIX 5, Seinn confirmed that Prasad had repeatedly asked her out in the past but had no idea he would go this far.
“He just tell me, ‘Don’t go’ and ‘I want to be with you,’” Seinn said, “He would just say something like a friendly joke.”
She added: “I didn’t want to lose my husband. He was my soulmate.”
Following their initial court appearance on Monday, May 1, Prasad and Rivera are due to appear next in court on May 8 with their Private Defender Program appointed attorneys.
Newsweek