December 1, 2021 - Merced – On June 16, 2021, at 9:27 P.M. Merced PD Officers responded to a shots fired call in the 900 blk of D Street in the city of Merced. Officers arrived on scene and located a female victim suffering from gunshot wounds. The female victim was flown to a Modesto hospital where she was pronounced deceased. The female was later identified as Betty Ann Choates (22) of Seaside.

Detectives worked diligently on this investigation and identified Daniel Valencia-Pulido (24) of Merced as the suspect. On November 30, 2021, a task force with the United States Marshalls Service located and arrested Valencia-Pulido for a warrant pertaining to this investigation. Valencia-Pulido was turned over to Merced PD Detectives after his arrest. He was later booked into the Merced County Jail for murder, attempted murder, shooting at an inhabited dwelling, assault with a firearm and gang enhancements.

Case Number: 21-35546

Merced Police are asking anyone with any information regarding this incident to contact Detective Odom at 209-388-7814 or by email at odoms@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