Man had prior kidnapping conviction
Boyfriend held on suspicion of murdering Biletnikoff's daughter
Posted: Wednesday February 17, 1999 06:35 PM
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U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped Ali in Ms. Biletnikoff's car Tuesday night. AP |
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) -- A 23-year-old man was being held Wednesday on
suspicion of murdering the daughter of NFL Hall of Famer Fred Biletnikoff.
Mohammed Haroon Ali, 23, was arrested in San Diego on Tuesday as he tried
to drive across the border into Mexico, sheriff's deputies said.
The body of his girlfriend, 20-year-old Tracey Biletnikoff, turned up on a
hillside at quiet Canada College in San Mateo County.
Ms. Biletnikoff had disappeared early Tuesday after a friend called San
Mateo police to report that she and Ali were involved in a domestic
disturbance. Police were unable to find the couple.
Maintenance workers found her partially clothed body hours later near an
empty parking lot while picking up garbage.
"It was a homicide," San Mateo County sheriff's Sgt. Bill Cody said.
Ali was convicted in 1994 for kidnapping a former girlfriend after she
broke up with him, Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said today. A
judge placed him on probation and ordered him to undergo drug and alcohol
treatment.
U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped Ali in Ms. Biletnikoff's car Tuesday
night, Cody said. Deputies flew down to Southern California to bring him
back to San Mateo County, a process that could take up to five days.
Cody would not give details of the killing or say whether Ms. Biletnikoff
had been sexually assaulted. Authorities said only that she appeared to
have been beaten. An autopsy was being performed Wednesday.
When asked whether she was a student at the community college, Cody said
there was a connection but would not elaborate. She had been working as a
drug counselor in San Mateo and had been dating Ali for some months, he
said.
Ms. Biletnikoff's brother said she had been living with their father in the
east San Francisco Bay area and was a student at the College of San Mateo.
Biletnikoff and his former wife, who lives in Southern California, were
notified of their daughter's death.
"They're pretty devastated, as you would expect," Cody said.
Biletnikoff, 55, who has four other children, is in his ninth year as wide
receivers coach with the Oakland Raiders. He
played for the Raiders from 1965-78 and was named MVP of Super Bowl XI.
He was the team's all-time leading receiver with 589 catches until Tim Brown broke that record
two years ago.
"Our sympathy and prayers are with the Biletnikoff family," Raiders
spokesman Mike Taylor said in a prepared statement.
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