After a three-year search, man arrested in Sacramento for 2018 murder in New York City

A man arrested in Sacramento for a 2018 murder in New York City has been sent to the Big Apple to stand trial.

Charles Williams, 35, who recently was living in Sacramento, is suspected of murdering Darryl Whitfield, 26, in an AutoZone parking lot in Queens on Sept 30, 2018. The two were reported to be friends.

The New York Daily News reported that the New York Police Department identified Williams as a suspect directly after the murder, as he was the last person seen with the victim. But difficulties obtaining video surveillance and DNA tests held up Williams’ arrest for nearly three years.

The NYPD Fugitive Task Force eventually traced Williams to Sacramento and put out a warrant for his arrest on March 10. Sacramento law enforcement officers made the arrest on March 26, and transferred Williams back to Queens on Friday.

It remains unclear which Sacramento law enforcement agency was responsible for the arrest. A spokesman for the Sacramento Police Department told The Bee that it did not conduct the arrest, and Sacramento County sheriff’s Sgt. Rodney Grassmann said the Sheriff’s office does not comment on arrest assists.

Williams faces charges in New York of second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon and tampering with physical evidence.

Williams is the second suspect arrested in connection to Whitfield’s murder. Two days after the murder, officers arrested Careem Holder, 30, for possessing the revolver that was believed to have killed Whitfield. Holder will be sentenced on Aug. 12.