Andre Helton was an 18-year-old African-American man from San Francisco. On the morning of August 14, 2008, a bystander called police to report what appeared to be men sleeping inside a champagne-colored Mazda 626 parked on Golden Gate Avenue, just outside the University of San Francisco campus. When officers arrived around 5:20 a.m., they discovered the bodies of Helton and another man, 34-year-old Isiah Turner. Both men had been fatally shot. University officials stated there was no indication that either victim was connected to the school.
For years, the double homicide remained without arrests, but investigators eventually linked the killings to a violent street gang based in the city’s Western Addition neighborhood. The gang, known as the Central Divisadero Players or CDP, allegedly engaged in murders, assaults, extortion, drug trafficking, and pimping to protect its power and territory. The investigation culminated in a sweeping federal racketeering indictment against numerous gang members in August 2014.
Within that indictment, two men, Charles Heard, also known as “Cheese,” and Reginald Elmore, were charged with the murders of Andre Helton and Isaiah Turner in aid of racketeering. The indictment revealed another tragic family connection: a different gang member, Jaquain Young, was charged with the separate 2010 murder of Andre's 22-year-old brother, Jelvon Helton.
The case against the CDP members went to a 14-week federal trial, where prosecutors laid out the gang's violent criminal enterprise for the jury. In March 2018, five members were convicted on charges including racketeering, conspiracy, and murder. The jury specifically found Charles Heard guilty of murdering both Andre Helton and Isiah Turner. In a separate proceeding, his co-defendant, Reginald Elmore, admitted that he was liable as a co-conspirator for the use of a firearm in the double homicide.
In June 2018, a federal judge sentenced the convicted gang members. For the murders of Andre Helton and Isiah Turner, Charles Heard was sentenced to multiple life sentences. Other gang members also received lengthy prison terms for their crimes, including Jaquain Young, who was sentenced to three life sentences for the murder of Jelvon Helton and other offenses. With the sentencing in June 2018, the men responsible for Andre Helton's death were held accountable.
