A 29-year-old woman is facing charges of murdering her boyfriend's cousin, and the only eyewitness says she claimed the victim was trying to poison her.
OAKLAND — A 29-year-old woman is facing charges that she murdered her boyfriend’s cousin inside an East Oakland motel where she, the boyfriend and the victim had been staying and allegedly using methamphetamine together, authorities said.
Yeimy Riera was charged with one count of murder in the death of 28-year-old Martin Millan, who was shot and killed March 21 inside a motel on the 9800 block of MacArthur Boulevard. Riera was identified as a suspect and arrested in late April.
Oakland police say that inside the motel room there were only three people: Riera, her boyfriend and Millan, the boyfriend’s cousin, who had spent the day together. The boyfriend later told police that the three had breakfast, returned to the hotel, used methamphetamine and that he went to sleep, only to be awakened in the mid-afternoon by the sound of a gunshot.
When he opened his eyes, his cousin was dead, and Riera was holding the gun, he told authorities. She reportedly explained that she believed Millan had tried to poison her and that he’d “touched her,” authorities said.
The boyfriend drove Riera to San Francisco and dropped her off, later explaining that he was afraid she’d turn the gun on him next. Then he returned to the motel and called police. By then, it was nightfall and Millan’s body had been in the motel room for hours, police said.
Riera was arrested April 23 and in an interview “provided admissions to her involvement in the murder,” police said in court records. She is being held at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin without bail. But on Tuesday, she’s due in court for a judge to hear a petition to lower her bail, possibly paving the way for her release while the case is pending.
Riera has not yet entered a plea, according to court records.
