US man charged with murder of Australian tourist Matthew Bate

AAP and staff writers News Corp Australia Network

San Francisco police announced that David Murillo, a 34-year-old from Hesperia, northeast of Los Angeles, had been charged with a felony count of murder.

Mr Bate was on a US holiday when he suffered “severe head trauma” and was left unconscious after an assault outside San Francisco’s Da Vinci Villa Hotel about 2am on Friday, police said. The 33-year-old was originally from Ocean Grove in Victoria but had been living in Darwin while working as an analytical chemist.

Police went door-to-door in the hotel immediately after the incident in search of Mr Bate’s alleged attacker.

“Based on information and evidence immediately obtained at the scene, officers located and detained a possible suspect inside a hotel on the 2500 block of Van Ness Avenue,” San Francisco Police said in a statement.

“San Francisco Police homicide investigators were notified and began an investigation.

“At the conclusion of an interview with the detainee, it was determined this individual was responsible for Bate’s murder.”

Police said when they were called to the hotel they found Mr Bate unconscious.

San Francisco Fire Department paramedics also responded and rendered aid, but Mr Bate succumbed to his injuries at San Francisco General Hospital.

Police will not release Murillo’s mugshot “due to pending identification matters”.

Although the arrest has been made, investigators are still asking anyone with information on the case to contact San Francisco Police anonymously.