LAFAYETTE, CALIFORNIA – More details are starting to emerge in the deeply unsettling homicide that shook a quiet Lafayette neighborhood over the weekend — including the identity of the victim, the full name of the suspect, the charge he is now being held on, and disturbing new reporting about what may have preceded the killing.
Authorities say Lafayette police were dispatched at 11:36 a.m. on Saturday, March 21, to a report of a suspicious person at a home on Westminster Place.
When officers entered the residence, they found a man dead inside. Detectives from the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office homicide unit and the crime lab responded, and a person seen walking nearby was detained and later arrested.
One of the biggest new developments is that the victim has now been identified as 34-year-old Christopher Jaber of Lafayette. The suspect has also been identified more fully as 35-year-old David Swank Prince of Chico.
According to the sheriff’s office statement published Monday, Prince was booked Saturday evening into the Martinez Detention Facility on one count of murder and is being held in lieu of $1 million bail. (Contra Costa Herald)
ABC7 reported that the homicide was a stabbing, adding a grim new detail to what had initially been described only as a homicide investigation. The station also reported that neighbors described hearing arguing from inside the home Saturday morning before the large police response.
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Neighbors told ABC7 and KTVU that the home was owned by a couple who are both doctors and that an adult son in his 30s may also have lived there.
Neither outlet reported any official confirmation of the relationship between the victim and suspect, and as of Monday, authorities still had not publicly announced a motive. That means some of the most important questions in the case — including exactly what led up to the killing and how the two men knew each other — remain unanswered.
There is also troubling new reporting around an apparent social media post that may be connected to the case. Claycord and SFGATE reported that a Facebook page appearing to match Prince’s name contained a post from mid-February threatening a person at the same Westminster Place address.
Specifically, a now-deleted February 19 post from an account under the name David Prince appeared to name the victim and included the Westminster Place address, along with a comment saying, “Can someone please kill this man.”
Because that material appears to come from social media reporting rather than a formal law enforcement statement, it should be treated cautiously. Still, it is one of the most disturbing new elements to surface so far.
Another reason this case has rattled so many residents is just how unusual it is for Lafayette. The City of Lafayette said in a 2024 crime update that the city recorded zero homicides in every year from 2013 through 2023. That helps explain why neighbors described the scene in such shocked terms.
As we reported before, the suspect appears to have an extensive record. We were only able to locate information in third party databases. But those entries include allegations such as battery, vandalism, petty theft, DUI, resisting arrest, reckless driving, and other offenses. As always, arrest history is not the same thing as a conviction, and Prince is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
For now, the official facts remain relatively limited but significant: Christopher Jaber, 34, is dead; David Swank Prince, 35, has been arrested on suspicion of murder; the homicide happened inside a home on Westminster Place; investigators say the case remains active; and Lafayette is still waiting for answers in one of the rarest and most shocking crimes the city has seen in years.
Anyone with information is being asked to contact the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division at (925) 313-2600, dispatch (925) 646-2441, or submit an anonymous tip by email or phone.
