Fugitive Sex Offender Found Dead in California Riverbed After Month-Long Search
Merle Wakefield, 69, vanished after his GPS monitor was tampered with, prompting a manhunt that ended with the discovery of his body.
A convicted child sex offender, Merle Wakefield, 69, who had been on the run in San Diego for four weeks, was found dead in a riverbed, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office announced this week. Authorities located Wakefield’s body Monday morning after responding to a call. An autopsy is pending to determine the cause of death.
Wakefield disappeared on the morning of September 25, after his court-ordered GPS tracking device registered a “Tamper Mode” alert. At the time of his disappearance, he was employed at an Amazon warehouse in Rancho Bernardo. Liberty Healthcare, the state contractor responsible for his supervision, discovered the tampered device and Wakefield’s absence, subsequently notifying the sheriff’s office.
Wakefield had been convicted in 1980 and 1991 for lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 and rape by force. He had been under a conditional release program since the fall of 2024, managed by Liberty Healthcare. The California Department of State Hospitals contracts with Liberty Healthcare to oversee individuals convicted of specific crimes who also have significant mental health conditions.
His escape drew criticism from local officials. San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond expressed concern, stating that the state's release program had allowed Wakefield to go missing less than two years after being placed in the community. In October 2024, a San Diego judge granted Wakefield a transient release, meaning he was not placed in a designated home, a decision that the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office had opposed due to monitoring and supervision limitations.
State Republicans have previously voiced concerns about the state's release program, with an audit revealing that approximately 36% of participants had violated their release terms. The California Department of State Hospitals defended the program, emphasizing that courts make the final decisions on conditional releases for individuals designated as sexually violent predators and that supervision includes GPS monitoring, unannounced home visits, and surveillance.