Investigators arrested a Chico man after a 34-year-old Lafayette resident was found dead inside a Westminster Place home.
LAFAYETTE, CA — Police say a 34-year-old man killed in a weekend stabbing at a home in Lafayette appears to have been targeted, after investigators found online posts that named him and his address before the attack. A 35-year-old man from Chico was arrested nearby on suspicion of murder.
Authorities identified the victim Monday as Christopher Jaber of Lafayette and the suspect as David Swank Prince of Chico. Officers were sent to Westminster Place at 11:36 a.m. Saturday for a report of a suspicious person, entered the home and found Jaber dead. Prince was detained while walking nearby and later booked on a murder count. The case matters because investigators are now trying to determine whether the killing was planned in advance, what relationship, if any, existed between the two men, and whether the online statements will become a central piece of evidence as prosecutors review the case.
The investigation began late Saturday morning on a short residential cul-de-sac in Lafayette, a city where killings are rare and where neighbors said the police response was startling in a normally quiet block. Officers were dispatched after a report of a suspicious subject at a residence on Westminster Place. Inside, they found Jaber dead. Detectives from the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office homicide unit and the crime lab were called in, and officers soon detained Prince in the neighborhood. Christina Coleridge, who lives nearby, said she saw police take the suspect into custody. “It’s horrifying. It’s really, really scary,” Coleridge said as neighbors tried to make sense of what had happened across the street. By Saturday evening, Prince had been booked into the Martinez Detention Facility on one count of murder, and authorities set bail at $1 million.
By Monday, the case had taken on a new layer after television news outlets reported that a social media account bearing the suspect’s name had posted about Jaber weeks before the killing. The posts, as described in those reports, named Jaber, listed the Westminster Place address and included language that appeared threatening and delusional. One later post explicitly called for Jaber to be killed. Police have not publicly released a formal motive, and officials have not said whether they have authenticated the account or tied it directly to Prince through forensic evidence. Even so, neighbors who learned of the posts said they believed the material suggested Jaber was not chosen at random. Coleridge told reporters the writings made it appear that the suspect had been looking for a specific person. Authorities have not said how Prince came to Lafayette from Chico, when he arrived, or whether he and Jaber had prior direct contact.
Publicly released facts remain narrow but significant. Jaber was 34 and lived in Lafayette. Prince was 35 and, according to sheriff’s officials, is from Chico. Reports from the scene said neighbors recognized Jaber as a familiar presence in the area and described him as friendly. One neighbor told local television news that Jaber lived in an accessory dwelling unit behind his parents’ home. Another said the suspect was unknown in the neighborhood and seemed calm when officers detained him. Officials have not released a detailed account of the moments before the killing, said little about the weapon beyond local reports that Jaber died from stab wounds, and have not explained whether there was forced entry or an altercation inside the house. Those unanswered questions are likely to shape the next stage of the case, especially as detectives sort witness accounts, doorbell video and digital records.
The setting has added to the shock. Lafayette, an affluent East Bay city in Contra Costa County, is better known for quiet residential streets and strong public safety numbers than for homicide investigations. Neighbors described the police response as large and unusual, with patrol cars, fire crews and an ambulance converging on the block. Some said they heard or sensed commotion before officers arrived, though no public timeline has been released describing who called police first or what exactly prompted the report of a suspicious person. That gap matters because it could help answer whether officers were responding to a disturbance already underway or arrived only after the attack had ended. The city’s relative lack of violent crime has made the killing stand out sharply. For residents, the case has become both a homicide investigation and a rupture in the sense of routine that defines much of daily life on the street where Jaber was killed.
The legal case is still in its earliest stage. Prince has been booked on suspicion of murder, but prosecutors had not, as of Tuesday, publicly announced any additional charges, special circumstances or a formal court narrative laying out premeditation. If investigators confirm the social media posts were written by Prince, prosecutors could argue they show planning and intent. Defense attorneys, in turn, could point to the same writings as possible evidence of mental instability. That tension is already visible in public discussion of the case. But legal arguments will depend on what detectives can verify: authorship of the posts, timing, travel records, communications, physical evidence from the scene and any connection between Prince and Jaber. Sheriff’s officials have said only that the investigation is ongoing. No public affidavit explaining probable cause has been widely released, and officials have not announced a charging decision beyond the initial booking on suspicion of murder.
Additional records have drawn attention to Prince’s background, though those records do not explain what happened Saturday. News reports citing criminal history databases and prior cases said Prince had previous arrests in multiple Northern California jurisdictions and at least one prior assault conviction in Butte County. That history is likely to attract public scrutiny, but it may have limited value in court unless prosecutors seek to introduce it under specific rules. For now, the more immediate evidence appears to center on the scene itself and the online trail that surfaced after the killing. Neighbors’ comments have also helped sketch the human dimension of the case. Coleridge said she knew Jaber and would see him around the block, riding his bike or stopping to talk. Those details have sharpened the sense of loss in the neighborhood, where residents are now trying to reconcile their everyday memories of Jaber with the violent way he died.
Where the case stands now is straightforward: Jaber is dead, Prince is in custody at the Martinez jail, and detectives are still trying to pin down motive, relationship and preplanning. The next milestone is expected to come when prosecutors announce formal charging decisions or a first court appearance is calendared in Contra Costa County.
Author note: Last updated March 24, 2026.