34-Year-Old Man Arrested In Death Of Australian Tourist In Russian Hill

34-Year-Old Man Arrested In Death Of Australian Tourist In Russian HillThe Da Vinci Villa at 2550 Van Ness Ave. | Image: Google Maps
Fiona Lee
Published on June 05, 2017

San Francisco police has now identified one of the two suspects arrested in the alleged murder of Matthew Bate, an Australian tourist at the Da Vinci Villa Hotel at 2550 Van Ness Ave. (between Union and Filbert streets) in Russian Hill early Friday morning. 

David Murillo, a 34-year-old resident of Hesperia, was arrested and booked into San Francisco county jail on a felony charge of murder. According to Bay City News, Murillo was found at a nearby hotel and detained.

"At the conclusion of an interview with the detainee (Murillo), it was determined that this individual was responsible for Bate's murder," said SFPD in a statement.

A booking photo of Murillo has not yet been released.

The events that led up to Bate's killing took place early on the morning of Friday, June 2nd. At 2:18am, officers responded to reports regarding a man who had been assaulted. 

When police arrived, they discovered that Bate was unconscious from severe head trauma. He was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he died from his injuries. 

According to Hoodline content partner ABC7, Bate was an analytic chemist from Australia's Woolner Northern Territority. The 33-year-old man was in San Francisco with three other friends, and the four men were returning back to the Da Vinci Villa in the early morning after celebrating the Warriors' win in the first game of the NBA Finals. 

Upon their return, Bate got into an argument with the other suspects, including his assailant. The verbal altercation then turned physical, said SFPD.

In a statement, Bate's family said, “He had such a warm and kind soul and was a wonderful son, brother, uncle and friend.” The family, including his parents and sister, is now journeying to San Francisco to retrieve his body.

Hoodline has also reached out to the Da Vinci Villa for comment on this case; we'll update this article when we hear back from them.

Although there has now been an arrest, police are asking anyone with information about the case to call the department's anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444. You can also send a tip by text message to TIP411 with "SFPD" at the start of the message.