Father Of Two, Bradley St. Clair, Was Brutally Murdered In A Botched Kidnapping. There Is Still One Suspect At Large.

Bradley St. Clair

He was a wonderful young man. He was a kind person, a really good friend and a loving husband and father.

Bradley was born on March 18th, 1969 in Bakersfield California. 

Brad and his wife Elisia met when they were in their early 20's at a church conference. Elisia said they met by chance and it was the start of a fairy-tale love story.

In 2000, Brad and Elisia had a son named Joshua, a daughter named Brittany and a baby on the way. He and his brother, Frank Jr., where real estate developers and had taken over the 1935 family business St. Clair Investments.

On August 7th, 2000, 31-year-old Brad was finishing up work at St. Clair  Investments at the 3400 block of Wible Road in Bakersfield, California. At 5 p.m., his wife called to confirm dinner plans. Soon after the call, Brad's secretary, Susan Clevenger , along with he boyfriend, Keith Shell, entered Brad's office. The plan was to kidnap Brad and hold him for ransom. They didn't expect Brad to fight back. 

When his wife hadn't heard from him by 6 p.m., she soon called the police. When they arrived at his office they discovered that there was an intense struggle in the office. There were ceiling tiles out of place, footprints were on the desks,  and there were bloodstains on the door near the exit. They also found Brad's body. He was gagged and bound with duct tape. He was covered in bruises and scrapes as wells as cuts to the back of the head. He also had been strangled with his necktie.

On August 12, 2000 Clevenger's brother, Robert, told BPD Detectives that Clevenger had asked him to help her and Shell with a kidnapping scheme. He said he declined.

Police picked up Clevenger and Shell that evening. Clevenger claimed that she did not want to ask her brother for help, but Shell pressured her to.

Police tested Shell's palm prints to prints they found on the duct tape used to bind Brad's feet. It was a match. Clevenger and Shell were both arrested for Brad's murder.

In 2001, Clevenger and Shell were both convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

DNA testing was unable to match the bloodstain found on the office's door to Shell, Clevenger or Brad. Police are looking for a third suspect in the case.

Shell's dad was a police chief.

In February of 2014, BPD issued four DNA warrants, two of those warrants were for Darren Choyce and Chadi Guirguis. Clevenger told police she had dropped Shell off at Choyce's home the night of the murder. Guirguis was at the home that night as well. Later, both Choyce and Guirguis were eliminated by DNA testing.

A $15,000 reward still exists for information leading to the arrest and filing of a criminal complaint against a third person.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Bakersfield Police Department at 327-7111 or Detective Ryan Kroeker at 326-3546.