Hayward murder defendant linked to stabbing of Mercury News reporter in San Jose

SAN JOSE — A woman charged with murdering a man at a Hayward motel in July 2017 is the same person alleged to have stabbed a Mercury News reporter 10 days earlier near Willow Glen, this news organization has learned.

To top it off, Sydney Megan Whalen, 24, was jailed in Santa Cruz County on Aug. 1, 2017 — the day after the Hayward killing — for a third incident that occurred hours earlier in Santa Cruz. She is being held on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and robbery for that incident, with bail set at $50,000.

Investigators tied the Hayward slaying and San Jose attack to her through DNA and other physical evidence in the ensuing months, according to court records.

According to police, on July 21, 2017, Whalen stabbed a man multiple times during a robbery attempt in the 800 block of Redbird Drive, near Almaden Expressway and Curtner Avenue. The victim, Mercury News hockey writer Paul Gackle, was treated for severe injuries, including wounds to his abdomen and throat.

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office confirmed that Whalen has been charged in the stabbing with attempted murder, first-degree robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, with each count carrying an enhancement for great bodily injury and use of a deadly weapon. There is no indication Gackle was targeted because he is a journalist.

Court records show Whalen has an extensive history of arrests and convictions in Santa Clara County, with at least 18 criminal cases going back to 2013, primarily involving drug offenses but also including assault with a deadly weapon, battery and one instance of trying to smuggle a weapon into a jail facility.

The San Jose stabbing appears to have been the start of a violent streak by Whalen, authorities say. On July 31, 2017, 10 days later, she is alleged to have killed 44-year-old Daniel Torrez, a Hayward resident and father of four, at a Motel 6 in Hayward by bludgeoning his head and face. She then took off in Torrez’s Volkswagen Jetta, according to Alameda County court records.

Court records and police reports state that Whalen traveled to Santa Cruz, where she was arrested for robbing and attacking someone with a hammer in that city the next day.

When she was arrested, police found her with a wallet containing Torrez’s identification and a white towel with blood on it, records show. Torrez’s Jetta was found abandoned in San Jose a week later, and police reportedly recovered Torrez’s bloody cell phone inside the vehicle.

But it took months before Whalen was formally tied to Torrez’s death, as investigators pored through a trove of physical evidence. In November, a submitted DNA sample was matched with one in a criminal database, and on Dec. 21, Hayward police traveled to Santa Cruz County jail to collect a DNA sample from Whalen and determined it was a match.

Investigators also tied Whalen to the Hayward crime scene through fingerprints extracted from an ice bucket in the motel room and a toilet seat, court records show.

Whalen was charged with multiple crimes related to Torrez’s death Feb. 9, topped by a count of felony murder during the course of a robbery, and a special allegation for using a deadly weapon, which was not specified. She also was charged with first-degree residential robbery with a deadly-weapon enhancement, and a felony count of unlawfully taking or driving of a vehicle.

Whalen’s next court appearance, in Santa Cruz, is scheduled for Nov. 28, with a trial tentatively expected to begin in December. Once her case is adjudicated in Santa Cruz County, she could be prosecuted separately in Alameda and Santa Clara counties, though when that might happen is unclear.

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