A 20-year-old San Francisco man is in jail facing a federal murder charge in connection to the discovery of another man's body at Crissy Field earlier this month.
Federal law enforcement arrested Leion Butler on Monday after prosecutors reviewed surveillance footage allegedly connecting him to the victim's abandoned vehicle, and the United States Department of Justice said Tuesday that he was booked into jail on suspicion of murder
He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Tuesday, prosecutors said. If found guilty on the murder charge, Butler faces life in federal prison.
Authorities were called to Crissy Field in the early morning hours on Nov. 12 after bystanders found a man with a gunshot wound to his head in a parking lot near the public shore, prosecutors alleged in court filings.Â
Paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene, and the San Francisco Medical Examiner later identified him as 32-year-old Hamza Walupupu of Alameda County.
The FBI took charge of the investigation and detectives reviewed surveillance footage from the area where Walupupu's body was found. Investigators saw in the footage a vehicle "linked" to Walupupu leaving the area.
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Officials found the car in the Hunters Point neighborhood three days later, according to the DOJ. Prosecutors said the vehicle had been abandoned and double-parked on a street for several days before it was recovered.
Investigators obtained additional surveillance video of the area where the car was found and allegedly found recordings of Butler "parking the car, exiting and speaking into a cell phone," the DOJ said in a release on Tuesday. Federal prosecutors said the footage showed a second car later arriving at the scene.
The DOJ said surveillance cameras captured images of Butler speaking with the driver of the second car, making several trips between Walupupu's car and the second car, and wiping down the driver’s side door and interior of Walupupu’s car.
The video also allegedly showed Butler retrieving items from Walupupu's car and eventually getting into the second vehicle and leaving the scene.
Federal prosecutors said investigators used the surveillance footage to find the owner of the second vehicle, which eventually led them to arrest Butler. The DOJ did not specify if the owner of the second vehicle faces any charges in connection to Walupupu's death.
Butler’s arrest was the second this month in The City connected to the discovery of a dead body near a park. San Francisco police arrested a man and a woman earlier this month on suspicion of unlawful disposal of human remains and conspiracy in connection to another woman's body that was found inside a duffel bag near Golden Gate Park during the summer's Outside Lands music festival.
