28-year-old Michael Diggs and his 40-year-old girlfriend Kneitawnye Sessoms were charged with murder in Alameda Superior Court Thursday for allegedly killing a 54-year-old former bandit known as the "Noteman" in his home with a number of sharp instruments, including a hatchet.

Sylvan Fuselier, 54, was arrested way back in 1996 and sentenced to five years in prison after pulling off at least 14 robberies at local businesses in Berkeley and Oakland. Fuselier's move was to chat up clerks before handing them a note demanding money. (Hence, the uninspired "Noteman" moniker.) On February 28th of this year, Fuselier was found dead in his apartment on Addison Street after a friend called police to report him missing.

Police found security footage of Fuselier entering the apartment almost a week earlier along with Diggs and Sessoms. The next morning, the same security camera caught Sessoms on tape trying to wipe off the door handles as she left the residence. Diggs could be seen on video leaving the apartment through another exit a few hours later. A search of the apartment turned up evidence that Diggs, a convicted car thief, had been in the apartment and most likely used a hatchet during the murder.

Both Diggs and Sessoms were charged with murder and murder in the course of burglary and robbery. Diggs got another enhancement charge for the (alleged) grisly hatchet job. Both are being held without bail and could face life in prison with no possibility of parole or the death penalty if convicted.

[Chron]