Police in Eureka, California have arrested a suspect in the murder of the beloved pastor of St. Bernard’s Church who was found murdered in the parish rectory on New Year’s morning.
CNN is reporting that police have arrested 4e year-old Gary Lee Bullock in connection with the January 1 murder of Father Eric Freed.
Parishioners say they became concerned when Father Freed did not show up to celebrate the 9:00 a.m. Mass on New Year’s Day. A deacon went to the rectory where he found the priest’s body.
Police say there was evidence of forced entry and a violent struggle. Although a coroner has yet to rule on the exact cause of death, officers said there was evidence of blunt force trauma to the body.
During an afternoon news conference at the parish, Mayor Frank Jager, who referred to Father Freed as a personal friend, called his death a “tremendous loss.”
“This is an absolutely tremendous loss not only for St. Bernard’s Parish, but for our community generally,” the mayor said. “For those of us who believe in prayer, this is the time for that.”
Freed was also very well loved in his post at Humboldt University where he taught for more than 10 years.
“He was a really, genuinely warm individual,” professor Stephen Cunha, chairman of Humboldt University’s religious studies department, told CNN. “… Kind is the word that comes to mind, sensitive.”
Students felt the same way about him. “This was not some stuffy clergyman,” Cunha added. “He was very much someone that you could sit down and speak with… He connected with everybody.”
The local Japanese-American community is also grieving his loss today. Fr. Freed lived in Japan for 20 years and was fluent in the language. He translated haiku by Hiroko Takanashi, a survivor of the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima, and wrote an introduction to her collection, The Experience of the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima in Poem.
Bullock was arrested in connection with the crime on Thursday after his family turned him in. Police say he had been picked up the night before the crime for public intoxication, but set free shortly after midnight.Two hours later, police received a call about a suspicious person at St. Bernard and found Bullock but referred him to a nearby shelter rather than detain him.
It was shortly after 9:00 a.m. when they received the call about Fr. Freed.
“There’s no question in our mind he’s responsible for this heinous act,” Eureka Police Chief Andy Mills told CNN’s Jake Tapper, citing evidence recovered at the crime scene and interviews with eyewitnesses allegedly linking Bullock to the death of the Rev. Eric Freed.
Thus far, no motive has been determined.
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