Wife was dating a deputy, then he killed her and her husband, CA officials say
A 26-year-old former sheriff’s deputy was found guilty in the fatal shooting of the woman he was dating and her husband, California officials said.
In 2022, Devin Williams, an Alameda County Sheriff’s Office deputy, left work and went to the Dublin home of Maria Tran and her husband Benison Tran, according to an Oct. 3 news release by the district attorney’s office.
Then he shot them both dead with a county-issued gun, officials said.
The couple’s 14-year-old son was in the home at the time, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Prosecutors said Williams and Maria Tran were in a romantic relationship, and Maria Tran was married and lived with her husband, officials said.
Maria Tran and Williams met at the John George Psychiatric Hospital where he guarded inmates getting medical treatment and she was a nurse, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
When Maria Tran tried ending the relationship, Williams showed up at her home, a lawsuit obtained by KRON said.
The couple alerted police on Aug. 8, 2022, but the responding officer gave “Williams ’preferential treatment’ due to his employment as a sheriff’s deputy,” KRON reported, citing the lawsuit.
McClatchy News reached out to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 4 and was awaiting a response.
Family members of the Trans filed the wrongful death suit in 2023 saying if Williams had been fired, the couple might still be alive, according to the lawsuit obtained by the outlet.
After the Sept. 7, 2022, shooting, Williams left the home and was later arrested in Fresno, according to a March 2024 news release by the district attorney.
“We recognize this horrific tragedy leaves a son without his parents and a community forever traumatized by this unacceptable and vicious home invasion attack on an unarmed and unsuspecting couple,” District Attorney Pamela Price said in the release.
Williams is now facing 50 years to life in prison, officials said.
He is scheduled to reappear in court on Nov. 12 for his sentencing, prosecutors said.
Dublin is about a 30-mile drive east of San Francisco.
This story was originally published October 4, 2024 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Wife was dating a deputy, then he killed her and her husband, CA officials say."