By the time Brenda Diaz finished begging the public to help find her missing sister, the reply she got was not a tip. It was a text that read like a confession.
Court testimony made public this week alleges that Diaz’s boyfriend, Amadi Monroe, sent a message saying he had shot the 30-year-old and apologized. Diaz was reported missing on Aug. 8, 2023, and investigators later found her body inside a Lexus on Aug. 11, 2023.
According to The Mercury News, court records say Monroe texted that he shot Diaz and expressed remorse, and detectives later tied the Lexus to a series of Oakland shootings on Aug. 8, 2023. That same day, another man, Jerald Larnell Clark II, was shot and later died at Highland Hospital after he was found wounded in front of his home.
Video and vehicle tie multiple scenes, investigators say
Homicide investigators told a grand jury they reviewed security video from a nearby residence that allegedly shows someone firing at Clark from Diaz’s Lexus. The same car was then flagged as a suspect vehicle in three other shootings that day in East Oakland, details that prosecutors say help link what might otherwise look like scattered episodes of gunfire into a single deadly pattern, per Hoodline.
Court schedule and charges
Monroe has been held in custody since his arrest and faces pending murder and firearms-possession charges, according to court documents. The Mercury News reports he is scheduled to return to Alameda County court on June 12, as prosecutors work to consolidate evidence tied to the shootings.
Family reaction
Before any of that was public, Diaz’s family had been flooding social media with pleas and videos, asking for help to find the missing 30-year-old. The alleged confession text landed after those appeals, according to court testimony and local reporting. In coverage that pulled together chilling details on the double killing, loved ones described Diaz as a Bay Area woman whose sudden disappearance left a community desperate for answers.
Now prosecutors and family members are focused on the June hearing, where court filings and testimony could clarify how the district attorney intends to proceed and whether additional charges tied to the Aug. 8 shootings might be filed. Neighbors say the case has once again put a harsh spotlight on long-standing worries about gun violence in parts of East Oakland.
