Fresno murder suspect released from jail after no charges filed

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Fresno man who police say murdered another man in the Tower District was set free from the Fresno County Jail on Monday.

Davin Rodriguez was arrested last week for murder. Fresno police say he is the only suspect and they have a solid case. Police waited all day Monday for the results of a DNA test. But since no charges were filed, the suspect was released.

Investigators say Jerald Riley did not know the man who murdered him. Officers say Rodriguez was running in the area when he got into a fight with Riley and stabbed him to death. But, during the scuffle, Rodriguez was hurt too, and police believe his DNA was also left at the crime scene.

"The suspect fled southbound on Roosevelt. There was blood that was left there. It was processed and there was nothing that came back when it was ran through all the databases. So we knew then that the person probably didn't have a significant criminal history," said Lt. Mark Salazar of the Fresno Police Department.

Officers say the suspect only has a criminal history as a juvenile. He lives several blocks away from the Olive Avenue corner where police say he murdered Riley for no obvious reason. Police say an anonymous call two weeks after the murder helped point them toward Rodriguez.

"It was a tip, along with knocking doors everywhere. We always knew, again, that he was in the neighborhood somewhere," said Salazar. "It took two detectives and the TACT team, always were knocking doors. Finally, we got the right door."

At the suspect's home Monday, relatives would only say they are being harassed and threatened in the neighborhood.

Neither the victim nor suspect were gang members, and police say the victim was truly innocent.

When he was arrested last week, police say the suspect had a large knife in his backpack they believe could be the murder weapon.