Man, woman face murder charges in death of Uber driver

KING COUNTY, Wash. — A 21-year-old man and woman, Devin Wade and Olivia Bebic, are facing murder charges after investigators said they lured an Uber driver to a dark section of Renton-Issaquah Road Southeast and killed him while trying to steal his car, according to charging documents.

According to court documents, a 911 call was received at about 9:35 p.m. on Dec. 13, from the 8200 block of the road. Residents living at the location found the Uber driver, Cherno Ceesay. He was sitting in his car alone and had been stabbed to death.

Ceesay’s car had also crashed into a tree, court documents stated.

Police said their investigation revealed that at 8:50 p.m., someone created an Uber account, and at 9:03 p.m., that account had requested an Uber to the 8300 block of Renton-Issaquah Road with a drop off approximately 2 miles away.

Ceesay accepted the fare and arrived at the location at 9:18 p.m., according to court documents.

At about 9:25 p.m., a witness heard a loud sound outside his house in the 8200 block, approximately 100 feet from the scheduled pickup location.

According to court records, the witness looked outside and saw Ceesay’s car crash into a tree. The car was running. The witness also saw what he believed was a cellphone flashlight moving near the car.

When the witness got dressed and went outside, he found Ceesay, court documents stated.

According to court documents, Ceesay was found hanging from the driver’s seat, held by his seat belt, with his car door open.

Ceesay was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to court documents, Ceesay had a large cut to his neck, his cellphone was missing and he had been stabbed multiple times.

After an autopsy, the medical examiner found multiple stab wounds to the right back of Ceesay’s head, to the right side of his neck and to his right ear, court records stated. The medical examiner determined his cause of death was homicide and that he “would have gone unconscious within seconds of being stabbed in his neck and would have died soon after.”

According to court documents, investigators determined through Uber records that after the murder, Ceesay’s phone and the phone used to request the ride had traveled together a few hundred yards on Renton-Issaquah Road.

While the phone that requested the ride disconnected from the app, Ceesay’s phone did not, investigators said.

Ceesay’s phone was tracked back near Factoria Mall, where investigators found a vehicle that had traveled the same route as his phone, according to police records.

Investigators found out that Wade and Bebic had been previously associated with the vehicle, and they were both arrested for shoplifting later that night, court documents stated.

The vehicle was later impounded and searched after investigators got a warrant. They found Ceesay’s phone, a bloody knife in the driver’s door pocket and a tool knife with blood in the passenger door pocket, according to police records. Investigators also found a cellphone that put it in the area during the same time as the murder.

Both Wade and Bebic remain in the King County Jail on $2 million bail.

Cox Media Group