A 19-year-old San Diego man was behind bars on Feb. 21 in connection with last summer’s stabbing death of a well-liked transient in downtown Ocean Beach.
Noah Mitchell Jackson was arrested Feb. 20 in Orange County and was being held in the San Diego Central Jail in lieu of $2 million bail on suspicion of first-degree murder in the June 22, 2017, slaying of 65-year-old Walter (Ras) Riley.
Just before 12:30 a.m. on June 22, a 911 caller reported that one man was attacking another in the 1900 block of Bacon Street, San Diego police homicide Lt. Todd Griffin said. Responding officers found Riley lying on the sidewalk with stab wounds to his upper body.
The victim – an Ohio native nicknamed the “Incense Man” due to his practice of selling aromatic burning sticks at local farmers’ markets – was taken to UCSD Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Riley was a peaceful and friendly fixture on the streets of his adopted coastal hometown, according to area residents and merchants.
Investigators working to identify the killer released surveillance footage following the slaying that showed a white or Hispanic man dressed in baggy blue jeans and a light-colored gray hooded sweatshirt. A security camera at a nearby business captured images of the suspect shortly before the fatal assault took place, and after mortally injuring Riley, the assailant fled a short distance to the south, then to the east on Newport Avenue.
Police did not provide a motive for the deadly attack or say what evidence led them to Jackson, but San Diego police detectives obtained an arrest warrant after identifying him as the lone suspect.
On Feb. 20, Jackson was located in Huntington Beach and arrested by SDPD detectives with the help of local police and the U.S. Marshals Service. He was transported back to San Diego and booked into the downtown jail at 10:55 p.m. Tuesday, with arraignment tentatively scheduled for Feb. 22.