Berkeley Man Arrested in Cal Murder

Andrew Thomas Hoeft-Edenfield was arrested for fatally stabbing Christopher Wootton, a 21-year-old engineering student due to graduate this month, after a verbal exchange between partygoers coming from a nearby celebration escalated into a physical fight, according to Berkeley police Sgt. Mary Kusmiss.

At about 2:45 a.m., the Police Department received a report of someone brandishing a knife, and officers responded to the rear of 2421 Piedmont Ave., a Chi Omega sorority house, Kusmiss said.

Officers were then directed to 2434 Warring St., about a block east of the Piedmont address, where they met up with a crowd of about 20 college-age males who were circled around Wootton, according to Kusmiss.

Wootton suffered a stab wound to the left side of his upper chest. He was transported to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, where he was pronounced dead, Kusmiss said.

Detectives interviewed several witnesses Saturday and believe Hoeft-Edenfield stabbed Wootton, then fled westbound on Channing Way and tossed a bloody knife that was later found by police, according to Kusmiss.

Hoeft-Edenfield was booked into City of Berkeley Jail for one count of murder, Kusmiss said.

Wootton, who came to Cal from Long Beach, served as vice president of the Sigma Pi fraternity his junior year, and was the fraternity's pledge educator this year, according to UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau.

Wootton planned to study nuclear engineering in graduate school at UC Berkeley following his graduation this month, Birgeneau said.

"This futile and senseless killing is a loss felt by us all, including his teachers, friends and especially his fraternity brothers at Sigma Pi," Birgeneau said in a prepared statement.

The last murder of a Berkeley student was in 1998. Kenneth Ishida, 20, a Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity member, was carjacked and kidnapped from the garage of his apartment building, Kusmiss said. The suspect shot and killed Ishida and dumped his body and his car.

"Homicides involving UC Berkeley students historically have been very, very rare," Kusmiss said.

Classes at UC Berkeley will continue Monday as scheduled, according to Marie Felde, a campus spokeswoman. University Health Services at the Tang Center will provide counseling for students, faculty and staff.

Students may contact Counseling and Psychological Services at (510) 642-9494, and faculty and staff may contact CARE Services at (510) 643-7754.

KCBS' Chris Filippi reports

(cdg)

(Photo from CBS 5)