Murder weapon in Merced homicide may have been stolen from safe during house party

Jurors in the trial of a 27-year-old man accused of a 2015 shooting homicide heard testimony Tuesday the alleged murder weapon may have been stolen during a house party.

Tuesday’s hearing was the second day of testimony in Tyler Seng Saephan’s trial. He’s accused of fatally shooting Adrian Ayala, 20, just outside the victim’s home on Aug. 7, 2015.

Prosecutors believe the shooting may have been a marijuana deal that turned deadly. Saephan has pleaded not guilty to charges of first degree murder, second degree robbery and weapons-related offenses.

According to witness testimony Tuesday, Saephan was at a party at a friend’s house in Merced on July 23, 2015 — about two weeks before Ayala was shot to death.

The party host testified her father called her after he had just returned to Merced from an out-of-town trip after the party. He noticed his guns had been stolen from a safe in a bedroom.

“I knew something really serious had happened,” she said. “Usually, I would think something happened, like they got in a car accident, but my dad texted me, ‘You need to answer your phone. You have a lot of explaining to do.’”

After the woman got back to her father’s house, she saw police were already there and her father told her someone broke into his bedroom and stole all his guns.

She testified that before she went home, she called Saephan and co-defendant Cesar Barrera, saying something was stolen from her parent’s house.

“I asked them, ‘Did you guys rob me?’,” she said. “And they told me no.”

Barrera also faced charges in the burglary case, although he failed to appear for his last court date in 2015 and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was never apprehended and the case against him is still active.

Stolen guns recovered from defendant’s car

According to police reports, all of the guns stolen from the safe — except a Sig Sauer P229 handgun — were later recovered from a gold Honda Accord that Saephan was driving when he was later pulled over for speeding, prior to Ayala’s homicide.

Those guns included a rifle, shotgun, an antique handgun and several other firearms. Police also found two magazines containing six millimeter Luger cartridges – matching the Sig Sauer – in the gold Honda Accord.

Saephan and co-defendant Barrera were arrested on charges of burglary and conspiracy to commit a crime. Meanwhile, the car was towed to a nearby tow yard.

Saephan, according to police reports, later picked up the car on Aug. 6, 2015 — the day Ayala was killed.

After his arrest in 2017, Saephan later confessed to police about hiding the Sig Sauer behind the stereo in the Honda Accord, saying the gun was still there when he picked the car up from the tow yard, police reports said.

Police said the spent casings found at the scene of Ayala’s killing matched the Sig Sauer handgun, according to the police report.

Saephan also told police he had shot Ayala, and later gave the gun to a friend who lived in a nearby apartment complex, police reports say.

The friend threw the gun away at the complex, according to the police reports, and Saephan later had someone drive him back to the apartment complex so he could get the gun from the dumpster. It’s unclear where the gun is now.

Jurors on Tuesday also heard testimony from Merced police detectives like Moses Nelson, who worked on the homicide case. Police testified earlier that Ayala and Saephan had been messaging each other on Facebook and talking about an impending drug deal the night of the homicide.

Detective Nelson on Tuesday testified it doesn’t appear any money was exchanged between the victim and the defendant prior to the homicide. He said Saephan told police he had a dispute with the victim.

Testimony continues Wednesday in Judge Ronald Hansen’s courtroom. Saephan remains in jail, in lieu of $2 million bail. If convicted, he faces a maximum of life in prison.

This story was originally published February 16, 2022 at 10:46 AM.