Prosecutors say “obsession” led two Canadian men, Devin Vandorhoef and Darius Whyte, to travel to California in November to kill a woman who Vandorhoef had met years earlier on an online gaming platform.
According to the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, Devin Wolfgang Vandorhoef, 25, knocked on the victim’s door Sunday, Nov. 25, posing as an Amazon delivery driver with a package. Investigators later learned there were handcuffs, duct tape, and knives in the package, but it’s unclear how Vandorhoef intended to those items.
The victim’s boyfriend answered the door, and Vanderhoef forced himself inside the residence, stabbing the woman’s boyfriend, and then attempted to strangle and stab the alleged target of the attack.
She fought back with a “sharp object,” defending her boyfriend and herself, and Vandhorhoef was critically injured. Neighbors heard screaming and called the police.
The woman, who has not been identified in the press, received minor injuries. Vanderhoef and the woman’s boyfriend, who has also not been identified, were seriously hurt and hospitalized but expected to survive.
Whyte said he had nothing to do with it
Meanwhile, Whyte, also 25, was a short distance away when the attack happened and told the police he wasn’t involved. Whyte was allowed to leave, California news outlet KSBW reported, but investigators later determined that Whyte was a co-conspirator.
Whyte was arrested on a plane back to Canada, but authorities say the full extent of Whyte’s involvement in the alleged murder plot has not been determined.
California police later said the victim was unaware the men were in the Salinas area, about 100 miles south of San Francisco. Once they arrived, police added, they stalked her, “getting to know what her lifestyle was,” Monterey Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Andres Rosas said, according to CTV News. “That’s what ultimately led him to the house,” Rosas explained.
Speaking with Global News, Rosas added, “During the course of these few years that they knew each other online, Mr. Vandorhoef became obsessed with our victim, obsessed to the point that he actually traveled to California and started following her once he got here to get to know her way of life.”
Both men were held on attempted murder and conspiracy to commit a crime charges, according to jail records. The victim was in court Monday when the accused entered their not-guilty pleas. Whyte is held on $1 million bail, and Vandorhoef is held on $4.15 million bail. Vandorhoef and Whyte are expected back in court on Dec. 10.
Referring to the shocking case, Chief Monterey County Assistant District Attorney Berkley Brannon told KSBW, “It’s really one of the strangest cases I’ve ever seen. Guys coming from Vancouver to Salinas to pose as an Amazon delivery person and stab somebody. I mean, it’s extraordinary.”
Meanwhile, Salinas resident Glenn Church told CTV News, “It is bizarre. It’s pretty strange. I think the community is just shocked. I don’t think people really know what to think about this.” As for meeting people online, “You just never know who you’re talking to,” Church added.
Published: Dec 4, 2024 03:30 pm