OC kidnapping, murder suspect shot by police in San Diego; victim safe

ANAHEIM, Calif. (KABC) -- Police shot and wounded an Anaheim kidnapping and murder suspect in San Diego Wednesday night, shortly after safely recovering his alleged abduction victim.

Luke Lampers, a 35-year-old transient from the Anaheim area, is suspected of kidnapping Brianne Deese, 23, from the Crystal Inn and killing a 49-year-old man on Jan. 11.

Police believe Deese was the suspect's ex-girlfriend. The man who was killed, Douglas Navarro, was a neighbor to the person she was staying with after breaking up with Lampers.

Anaheim police detectives received information that Deese had called her father, telling him she'd escaped from Lampers in San Diego.

With help from San Diego police, they found Deese in San Diego and then tracked down Lampers, who had been at a motel in the 400 block of Taylor Street.

Authorities had seen Lampers arrive at the motel in a car, which was later determined to be stolen. Anaheim investigators approached Lampers, but he fled the scene and a short foot chase ensued.

At some point during the chase, an undercover officer fired and struck Lampers, officials said. Authorities said he was hospitalized and expected to survive.

Police also recovered a gun from the scene.

The suspect's mother, Audrey Lampers, spoke to Eyewitness News by telephone and defended her son, saying she cannot believe he committed the alleged crimes. She believes her son was protecting his ex-girlfriend from some kind of trouble.

"We know Luke, we know he would never do anything like that. He had to be helping Bri, protecting Bri. That's just the kind of guy he is," Audrey Lampers said.

David Deese said his daughter was tired but OK after the week-long ordeal.

Sgt. Daron Wyatt with the Anaheim Police Department said trying to track down the missing woman had emotional meaning for detectives.

"All of us are fathers ourselves," Wyatt said. "We have that emotional tie to our children and we can only attempt to imagine what Dave Deese was going through and we wanted to get her back for him."