November 5, 2021 - Merced – On September 11, 2021, at 12:11 A.M., Merced Police Officers responded to a residence on Kingsland Avenue in the city of Merced for a report of a woman screaming. Responding officers located a woman in the backyard of one of the residences in the area. The woman was tied up and had been severely beaten. Numerous items were stolen from the woman’s residence.

Detectives and crime scene personnel responded to the scene to take over the investigation. Detectives worked diligently to identify the persons responsible for the home invasion robbery. Alexis Vega-Higareda (26) of Sacramento was identified as a suspect. The identity of the other suspect and motive for the home invasion robbery remain under investigation.

On November 5, 2021, Vega-Higareda was arrested for home invasion, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and burglary. Vega-Higareda is currently serving a sentence for an unrelated crime at the Sacramento County Jail. He will be transferred to the Merced County Jail once he is released from custody in Sacramento.

Case Number: 21-55055

Merced Police are asking anyone with any information regarding this incident to contact Detective Pinnegar at 209-388-7712 or by email at pinnegarj@cityofmerced.org.

Other ways to contact us or report crime include:

For any emergency call or text 911

For non-emergency call 209-385-6912

Anonymous Tip Line (Non-emergency) call 209-385-4725

Anonymous Tips online at http://www.mercedareacrimestoppers.org/index.html.

Some crimes can be reported online through the Merced PD website https://www.cityofmerced.org/departments/police.

Source: Merced Police Department