A hotel worker stabbed a woman in the chest in San Diego, then fled and headed off a pier into the ocean, where her body was later recovered, authorities said.
When police pulled the white Honda out of the water, they found the suspect, Aaron Tran, 23, dead with multiple stab wounds.
San Diego police are not saying why they believe Tran threatened and stabbed the guest at The Shoal hotel in La Jolla, but said he apparently had no criminal record before Monday's attack.
San Diego police were called to the hotel on La Jolla Boulevard shortly after midnight, Lt. Paul Phillips said.
Two women were registered in a room on Sunday. Phillips described them only as an exchange student and a visitor from out of state. At one point in the evening, Tran called the women who were in her room and told them she needed access to her room because there was a leak in the room next door.
Phillips said one of the women was asleep, but the other allowed Tran, who had checked them into the hotel while working the front desk, into the room.
“They walked back to the bathroom and he asked her to hold her phone, maybe as a flashlight or something,” Phillips said.
Instead, Phillips said the woman saw a written message on the phone telling her not to scream, that he was armed with a knife and would stab her.
“He was holding a knife and within a very short period of time a struggle ensued,” Phillips said.
The woman fought with Tran and helped her roommate escape, Phillips said. However, during the fight, she was stabbed in the chest.
Phillips said the wound appeared to be a “fairly shallow” cut near the collarbone and was treated at a nearby hospital.
The women were able to call 911 and Tran is believed to have fled the hotel in the white Honda.
Phillips said Tran did not appear to have taken anything from the women and is not believed to have been injured in the altercation.
At about 12:35 a.m., San Diego Harbor Police responded to a call from a witness who saw a car driving away from Midway Pier, said San Diego Harbor Police Sgt. Jose Torres. When police arrived, the vehicle was already completely submerged and officers requested the assistance of divers.
Police are still investigating the incident, but Torres said the driver appeared to have intentionally driven away from the dock. Footage from the scene shows a tow truck pulling a white four-door Honda out of the water Monday morning.
Divers removed one person from the vehicle at approximately 2:20 a.m. Phillips said the driver was identified as Tran.
Tran appeared to have multiple stab wounds on his body, but it is unclear how or when he was injured, Phillips said.
During the initial investigation, Phillips said there was no indication that Tran, who had been employed at the hotel for about six months, was involved in a similar incident. Investigators are using Tran's fingerprints and DNA to determine whether he had been involved in any previous incidents, he said.
The incident is still under investigation.
