Berkeley police probe rare homicide after woman found dead in home

Detectives in Berkeley are investigating the city’s first homicide case in over a year. 

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Around noon Saturday, Berkeley police received a call about the discovery of a body in an apartment building. They responded to the 1900 block of California Street, a few blocks from the Trader Joe’s on University Ave. A property manager told them they had performed a welfare check on a unit and found the resident dead inside her apartment.

The woman was a Berkeley resident in her 30s, police said in a news release Saturday. The investigation is “still in its preliminary stages,” police said, but her death is presumed to be the result of a homicide. No further information was provided. 

It’s the first homicide probe in Berkeley since January 2025, when a delivery driver followed his stolen van from Oakland to Berkeley. At Russell and Acton, the man confronted the two thieves, and the three people were all stabbed in the chaos. A woman who was allegedly part of the theft was killed by the delivery driver. Although the man was charged with murder, a judge threw out the case a few months later.

In 2024, there were four homicides in Berkeley, all of which resulted in suspects being charged. 

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Anyone with information about Saturday’s homicide should contact Berkeley detectives at 510-981-5741, police said.