Sex offender charged in slaying of federal defense investigator
A high-risk sex offender with prior convictions for rape, kidnapping and manslaughter has been charged with the slaying of a federal public defender’s investigator whose body was found two months ago in a dry creek bed in Vacaville.
Randy Alana, 56, was charged Friday in connection with the death of 50-year-old Sandra Coke, whom he had dated briefly two decades ago. He has been in custody since Aug. 9 on a parole violation.
“The announcement of the arrest of Randy Alana for the murder of Sandra Coke brings closure not only to the Coke family but to our community,” Oakland police Chief Sean Whent said in a statement.
“Any time we remove a murderer from the streets of Oakland, we take a step towards making our city safer,” Whent said.
Coke, an inspector with the Sacramento branch of the federal public defender’s office, went missing on Aug. 4, according to the Alameda County district attorney’s office.
Her body was discovered Aug. 9 in a dry creek bed in Vacaville.
Later, as prosecutors attempted to revoke Alana’s parole, it was revealed that a condition of his parole was to stay away from Coke.
Alana is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Friday.
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