Los Altos murder suspect denies killing co-worker, says he was framed
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- San Jose police held a briefing Monday afternoon to ask the public for help in finding a 28-year-old motorcycle shop employee, whom they suspect was murdered by a co-worker.
Police said the body of Kyle Myrick may have been dumped in the ocean or possibly in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the vicinity of Mount Umunhum. Police said that area is familiar to the suspect and that's where volunteers have been focusing on their search.
WATCH VIDEO: Mother makes plea for public's help to find son believed to be killed
The victim and the alleged killer worked together at GP Sports, a motorcycle shop on Camden Avenue. But it was next door, at an empty building that had been fire damaged where San Jose police say they found blood. However, they did not find the body of Myrick.
Police arrested 39-year-old Steve Hlebo of Los Altos for murder early Saturday morning. Police seized Hlebo's truck, a white 2003 GMC Sierra 1500, that they believe may have been used in the alleged crime.
Hlebo sat down for a jail house interview with ABC7 News on Monday and denies any involvement. "I am not a murderer and I did not murder anyone," he said.
However, police feel otherwise, so that's why Hlebo remains behind bars at the county jail.
Myrick has been missing since Friday and was last seen at GP Sports on Friday afternoon. "I understand that they both worked in a back room or a basement or something of that area. So, Kyle was probably in the wrong place at the wrong time and this guy had a screw go loose," Myrick's stepfather John Sparry said.
WATCH VIDEO: San Jose police arrest man on suspicion of murdering co-worker
Hlebo told ABC7 News through security glass at the jail he first heard Myrick was missing from others at work. "They had me doing some stuff downstairs. I think he went to lunch, I wasn't really watching or paying attention to him and about three or four hours later, people start saying, 'Hey, where's Kyle? Hey, where's Kyle?' And I just didn't know where he was," Hlebo said.
Hlebo himself disappeared for about seven hours after work, a time gap police theorize he could have used to dump a body. Hlebo said he was driving around the Santa Cruz area in a drug stupor caused, he said, by co-workers putting drugs in his coffee. "I think that they were putting it in intentionally, so that they could discredit me and pin a murder on me essentially," he said. "Does anyone know why I'm being set up? Does anyone know why there are drugs in the coffee at work?"
Myrick's mother and stepfather watched the interview in an ABC7 News van and branded Hlebo a liar. "They drug test everybody before they get hired on. They're very anti-drug there, so him saying that is not true at all," Myrick's mother Kelly Sparry said.
A volunteer search team has been looking for Myrick, hoping he is still alive.
On Monday night, Kelly made a public plea for help as police search for her son's body. Choking back tears, she asked for help as she stood next to pictures of Hlebo's truck released by San Jose police.
Kelly said, "He's my baby, my only child, and I really want him back."
Anyone who may have seen Hlebo or his truck is asked to call police as they try to narrow the search area.
ABC7 News Reporter Matt Keller and Katie Utehs contributed to this story.
