Update: Skyline suspect charged with two murders

The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office has filed two murder charges and five other felony counts against Pacifica resident Malik Dosouqi in relation to the two killings on Skyline Boulevard earlier this week.

The other charges include two counts each of use of a deadly weapon and infliction of great bodily injury and one count of special circumstances for multiple murders, according to the Sheriff’s Office and county District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. Further special circumstances charges may be added as the investigation continues, he said Friday.

Dosouqi, 26, was booked into San Mateo County Jail on Thursday following medical treatment for an injury sustained while he was trying to flee the scene of the second homicide in the early morning hours Wednesday, June 19. He is being held without bail at the Maguire Correctional Facility and is set to appear in court on Monday at 1:30 p.m.

If convicted, Dosouqi could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole, Wagstaffe said.

Local media sources have reported that the two victims, Abdulmalek Nasher and John Pekipaki, were apparently unknown to Dosouqi, but met tragic fates by chance because of their work responsibilities.

Sheriff’s deputies on Monday night (June 17) found the body of Nasher, 32, a Pacifica resident who went to the remote location on Skyline in the El Corte de Madera Creek Preserve on a work call. Nasher died at the scene of multiple stab wounds, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Nasher was a Yemeni-American cab driver who is remembered for his love for his home country and his contributions to the Yemeni community, said Mansoor Ismael, the Yemeni consul general based in San Francisco. Nasher had a wife and young daughter, he said.

“He was very well-known in the community, and if you needed him for anything he would always be there to help,” he said.

More than 1,000 people are expected to attend Nasher’s funeral Saturday at a mosque in South San Francisco, Ismael said.

Deputies investigating Nasher’s death the next evening heard a cry for help from Pekipaki in roughly the same area and discovered him lying on the side of the road, also with multiple stab wounds. Pekipaki died at the scene.

Pekipaki, 31, was a tow truck driver for Specialty Towing in East Palo Alto who had been called to the scene late in the evening June 18 in order to help a stranded motorist, according to Lene Lauese, the office manager for Sunrise Towing, which is located next door to the Specialty Towing office.

Lauese said she had received a call from an unidentified person on Skyline Boulevard that night but had to tell him that all her trucks were busy.

“He said he needed assistance, that he was stuck in a ditch but we weren’t available,” she said. “It could have been one of my employees who went up there.”

The next morning Lauese found out that Specialty had sent Pekipaki out on the call and that he had been killed. He was a father to two young children, she said.

“It was foggy up there when he arrived and he couldn’t find the person who called for service,” Lauese said. “He told the receptionist he was going to leave and go back to Redwood City.”

Dosouqi was at the scene of the second killing and attempted a getaway by driving his car directly at deputies, the Sheriff’s Office said. One of the deputies fired shots that missed the car, but Dosouqi drove off the road into a ditch and was arrested. He was taken to the hospital to treat a laceration to his arm.

Wagstaffe confirmed that the injuries to both victims were inflicted with a knife, but he did not know whether a weapon was found at the scene. At this point there is no indication that the men had any prior contact before the homicides occurred, he said.

Related coverage:

● Update: Victim identified as detectives continue investigating apparent homicide