The maximum security area at Santa Rita Jail.
DUBLIN, Calif. - A murder suspect was killed, likely in a homicide, at Santa Rita Jail this week, Alameda County sheriff's officials said.
Elias Angel Rivera, 37, of Oakland, died early Tuesday morning, according to Sgt. Roberto Morales. His cellmate activated the emergency call button on Monday just before midnight to let deputies know he had been injured.
He had been held in a maximum-security housing unit.
Morales did not immediately provide information on how Rivera was injured or who injured him.
Rivera was taken to a hospital where he died on Tuesday at 1:11 a.m., Morales said.
Morales said Rivera's death is being investigated as a homicide, but he did not immediately respond to questions as to who is suspected of killing him, or if that person has been arrested.
Rivera was arrested by the California Highway Patrol on May 21, 2022, on suspicion of murder.
Rivera was allegedly driving with a suspended license after a DUI conviction when he killed 30-year-old Heidi Gerrish of Tucson, Arizona, and injured her partner, brother and sister-in-law on Highway 24 in a wrong-way collision.
A memorial website for Gerrish describes her as a board member of the University of Arizona Lutheran Campus Ministry who was heavily involved in the Lutheran church and was traveling to the Bay Area to celebrate her sister’s graduation from the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley.
At the time of the crash, Rivera was on probation, according to the criminal complaint obtained by the Bay Area News Group.
He had a 2019 misdemeanor drunk driving conviction, as well as three convictions for driving on a suspended license, according to court records.
Rivera is the 72nd person to die at Santa Rita Jail since 2014, according to a review of in-custody deaths by KTVU. He is the first person to die there this year.
Homicides are not that common at Santa Rita Jail. The last in-custody homicide occurred in September 2023, when Yuri Brand was killed, allegedly by his cellmate.