OAKLAND — A dispute over a woman was the motive for the beating death of a man found buried in a grave at a West Oakland homeless camp June 9, according to authorities and court records.
A resident of the camp, Sergio Omar Flores, 42, was arrested Wednesday in Valley Springs in Calaveras County and was charged with murder on Thursday.
According to court records, Flores provided a confession to the killing.
The man killed has been identified as Gaspar Sanchez Juarez, 43, who did not live at the camp but was a frequent visitor, authorities said. The camp is in the 500 block of 34th Street, an area below where Highway 24 and Interstate 580 meet.
Authorities said the fatal beating happened at the camp and was a result of a dispute between the two men, who knew each other, over a woman they both knew. No other details were provided.
Juarez was found bound and his face covered with duct tape. He had suffered severe head trauma. According to court documents, the killing occurred sometime between April 9 and June 3.
After Juarez’s body was unearthed, homicide investigators were able to identify Flores as the suspect and obtained a probable cause warrant for his arrest.
Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson, whose office filed the murder charge, said in a statement: “I commend the Oakland Police Department’s homicide investigators for their diligent work in identifying and apprehending the defendant in this horrific crime.”
According to court records, Juarez has three prior felony convictions, all in Alameda County. One was in January 2025 for second degree commercial burglary, another in May 2023 for discharge of a firearm with gross negligence and vehicle theft in November 2020. He was placed on probation in all of the convictions.
He is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday..