SAN DIEGO _ The man accused of the series of attacks on homeless men that left three dead and one critically injured last week was released from custody Monday, and police continue to seek the public's help to find the killer.
San Diego police homicide Capt. David Nisleit said at an afternoon news conference there is not enough evidence to press charges against Anthony Alexander Padgett, 36, who was arrested Thursday in Chula Vista.
"Over the weekend we discovered exculpatory evidence which does not give me confidence moving forward with Padgett still in custody," Nisleit said.
Investigators still believe the man in the surveillance photos that police released is the killer, the captain said.
Nisleit said, as he previously stressed, that Padgett was arrested on probable cause based on his similar appearance to the man in the surveillance footage and his 2010 conviction in the assault on his homeless friend.
District attorney spokesman Steve Walker said San Diego police officials had not submitted their investigation to the district attorney's office and that no criminal charges had been filed.
Previously, as Padgett was taken from police headquarters to jail, he declared his innocence to nearby reporters.
"We're innocent, innocent. We look like the person. We're innocent," Padgett said in a clip posted by 10News reporter Bree Steffen. "I look like that person, I'm innocent."
The news was disheartening to homeless advocacy organizations, whose members had expressed relief after the arrest was made.
"I thought I put this one on the shelf, and now I'm back out there," said Bob McElroy, president of the Alpha Project. "Here we go. We're going to do the same thing. We're going to have our outreach people telling the same thing _ keep your eyes open until they definitively catch" the person who is doing this, he said.
The series of violent assaults began about 8 a.m. July 3, with the death of Angelo De Nardo, 53, who was killed and then set on fire under the Clairemont Drive freeway bridge off Interstate 5 near Morena Boulevard.
About 4:50 a.m. July 4, Manuel Nunez Mason, 61, was critically injured on Greenwood Street in the Midway District. Less than two hours later, Shawn Mitchell Longley, 41, was found dead of injuries on Bacon Street in Ocean Beach.
Then, about 5 a.m. Wednesday, witnesses heard loud noises and saw one man set another on fire along a walkway between condominium complexes between State Street and Kettner Boulevard, south of Broadway in downtown San Diego. Investigators said a towel was ignited on top of the critically injured man, identified as 23-year-old Dionicio Derek Vahidy, but a witness grabbed it away before the victim was burned.
Vahidy died of his injuries Sunday.
