Delivery driver charged with fatally stabbing woman in Berkeley after his van was stolen

A Downey man is facing murder and other felony charges after authorities say he chased his own stolen delivery van from Oakland to Berkeley and got into what turned into a deadly scuffle with two people taking packages out of it.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office filed charges of murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon against Raymond Johnson Tuesday. Johnson, who along with another man was also stabbed in the melee, is still in a hospital and has not yet been booked, police told Berkeleyside.

A criminal complaint against Johnson identified the woman he allegedly stabbed to death as Laura Janet Nunez Antonio. It is Berkeley’s first homicide of 2025.

Police said Johnson first called 911 around 12:23 p.m. Jan. 18 and reported that his van had been stolen while he was delivering packages in Oakland.

“Having experienced prior thefts, he had installed a tracking device on the vehicle, which allowed him to monitor its location,” and he directed police to a home on Russell Street in Berkeley, according to a prepared statement from Berkeley police.

Johnson himself followed the van and, when he found it in the 1300 block of Russell, he also found Nunez Antonio and a man taking packages from it. Johnson “confronted the male, leading to a struggle between them,” according to BPD’s statement.

By the time police arrived, all three alleged combatants had been stabbed, police said at the time. Police said they found Johnson and the other man at Russell and Acton streets, and Nunez Antonio and the van a block and a half away on Burnett Street. Medics took all three to the hospital, and Nunez Antonio died.

In addition to Nunez Antonio’s murder, Johnson is charged with the attempted murder of and assault with a deadly weapon on the other man, who had not been charged in connection with the events of Jan. 18 as of Wednesday.