On Monday morning around 8:30 a.m. Mary Freeman, a 48-year-old homeless woman, was found dead on the sidewalk near 15th Street and San Bruno Avenue on the edge of the Mission and Potrero Hill. Meron Tesfamariam, a 30-year-old homeless man with a history of stalking, was arrested on suspicion of killing Freeman.

Tesfamariam was known to neighborhood police because he was a former patient at the Mission Neighborhood Health Center at 16th and Shotwell Streets, a few blocks from where Freeman's body was found. Although police have not released the details of the suspected homicide, Tesfamariam had a restraining order against him for stalking a female clinic employee on several occasions between August and October of last year. As the Chronicle reports, Tesfamariam once followed the employee and her co-worker as they walked her daughter to school.

Tesfamariam was booked on suspicion of murder, exhibiting a deadly weapon and "carrying a dirk or dagger." He is currently being held without bail.

Anyone who may have additional information about the homeless woman's death is encouraged to call SFPD's homicide squad at (415) 553-1145, the anonymous tipline at (415) 575-4444 or via text to TIP411 with “SFPD” in the message.

[BCN/Appeal]
[Chron]