Cellmate charged with murder in inmate’s death at Santa Rita Jail

The cellmate of Elias Angel Rivera, a 37-year-old Santa Rita Jail inmate who died after deputies found him unresponsive and injured last month in his cell, is now being charged with murder in the case.

Paula Faaui, a 22-year-old from Oakland, is being investigated by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office for his alleged involvement, according to a Friday news release.

Around midnight on March 17, deputies found Rivera unresponsive in his Dublin cell with visible injuries after Faaui activated an emergency call button. Rivera was then taken to an area hospital, where he died the next morning.

River had been jailed at Santa Rita since May 2022, after California Highway Patrol officers arrested him on suspicion of murder for allegedly driving drunk and causing a crash that killed a woman. He was housed in a maximum-security unit.

Faaui had been arrested by Oakland police in August 2023 on charges of murder and subsequently booked into Santa Rita.