At about 12:54pm Tuesday, Turlock Police, Turlock Fire, and American Medical Response responded to an aggravated assault that had just occurred at the Turlock Chamber of Commerce in the 100 block of S. Golden State Boulevard.
The caller reported there was a man on the ground with possible blunt force trauma to the head, and also rapid and shallow breathing.
When units arrived on scene, they found who was later identified as Donald Byoyodavid, 54 of Turlock, down, not breathing, and began CPR.
Despite life-saving measures, Byoyodavid succumbed to his injuries.
Detectives arrived on scene and assumed the investigation.
Through the investigation, Devin Tillery, 31 of Turlock, was identified as a person of interest, and was determined to have last gone eastbound on Marshall Street immediately following the incident.
Tillery had been recently released from state prison on post-release community supervision in accordance with Assembly Bill 109, which was passed by California lawmakers in 2011.
After several hours of processing the scene, a deputy coroner responded to take possession of Byoyodavid’s body, his vehicle was evidence towed to the Turlock Public Safety Facility, and the scene was broken down.
Detectives worked for hours putting the pieces together to determine what had occurred. It was determined Byoyodavid had been struck in the head once with a chain.
A few hours later, at 8:16pm, Officer Ayala located Tillery riding a bicycle and attempted to stop him in the area of N. Berkeley Avenue and E. Marshall Street.
Tillery dismounted his bike and briefly ran from Ayala, before being taken into custody.
During a search incident to arrest, Tillery was found to be in possession of methamphetamine.
Subsequently, Tillery was arrested and transported to the Turlock Public Safety Facility where he was interrogated.
Following the interrogation, Tillery was booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on charges of possession of a hard drug with prior convictions, resisting a peace officer, murder, and violation of post-release community supervision.
“I want to assure our community that the suspect is in custody, and our investigators are working diligently to piece together the circumstances that led up to the altercation,” said Chief Hedden. “We understand the concerns of residents and business owners, and I want to emphasize that this appears to be an isolated incident. Public safety remains our top priority, and we will continue to have a strong presence in the area.”
“We are working diligently to understand all aspects of this case,” said Detective Blanc. “We encourage anyone who may have witnessed the incident or has additional information to come forward.”
The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information that could assist is encouraged to call Detective Blanc at 209-668-6540.
