CONTRA COSTA, Calif. (KRON) – The latest on the search for a mother and son who went missing this weekend have been reported as safe.
Since Saturday, the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office asked the public to be on the lookout for an SUV.
It was believed 31-year-old Kimberly Meeks might be behind the wheel with her four-year-old son in the car.
And, by Tuesday morning, the sheriff’s office announced both were found alive and safe.
This was after the boy’s father, 26-year-old Darryon Williams of Stockton was arrested on Saturday.
Wanted in connection with the murder of 64-year-old Michael Iliff who was found dead in his Discovery Bay home that same night.
“The whole thing is shocking,” neighbor Carolyn said.
Carolyn lives next door and occasionally spoke with Meeks.
“I’m glad that they’re safe. I just hope she didn’t have anything to do with this. I’m hoping and hoping that that’s not the case.”
Carolyn believes Iliff was killed long before investigators discovered his body.
That’s based on what she says her husband heard days earlier.
“The shots were like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,” Carolyn said.
She says her husband believes the gunfire came from Iliff’s house.
Shortly after, she says her son saw who he thought was the suspect, williams, walk outside, then head back in.
“It was so horrendous. And then, I’m selfish, I thought he could have killed my son.”
Prior to Williams’ arrest in Richmond, he is accused of shooting a firefighter in the foot and a paramedic in the leg in Antioch.
Then leading police on a chase through the East Bay.
Afterward, sheriff’s deputies conducted a welfare check at Iliff’s home, where he was found dead.
Carolyn says he helped Meeks and Williams with housing, on and off, for years.
“I hurt because he was just a nice man and evidently too nice. And he got involved with a mess, and he was trying to be helpful, and he’s gone.”
Williams is facing murder and attempted murder charges.
His bail at the Martinez Detention Facility is set at 11 million dollars.