SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - San Diego Police arrested a man on suspicion of killing the owner of an East Village flooring business, but a female suspect remains at large, detectives said Thursday.
Kevin Eugene Cartwright, 51, was arrested in El Cajon Tuesday. No motive was released.
10News spoke to Venus, who told us she was Ghedeer "Tony" Radda's cousin. Ten years his junior, she said she always looked up to Radda as a "cool older brother," who taught her everything from pop culture to how to grow up. She said the tragedy was so numbing, she still cannot accept it as reality.
"I wake up everyone morning thinking, is this still a dream? Am I ever going to wake up from this nightmare?" Venus asked.
Officers believe Kevin Cartwright and an unidentified woman killed Radda at Bottom Price Flooring on G Steet, October 10. Radda suffered trauma to his upper body and died at the scene.
"I can't imagine him thinking, am I going to go now? Do I call my kids? Do I call my wife? At the end of the day, I just want him to tell us, why?" Venus said.
For more than a week, investigators looked for two disguised suspects caught on Radda's newly-installed surveillance cameras. They captured a person in a Granny Mask and a woman with a purple wig.
San Diego Police said Wednesday evening they arrested the man they believed was behind the Granny Mask-- Kevin Eugene Cartwright.
"Today did give us a little bit of peace, not that it will bring him back, but just to know that there is a little bit of closure, that one person has been caught," Venus said.
10News went to Cartwright's last known address in El Cajon. A man answered the door but provided no comment. We then looked into Cartwright's criminal background and found he had been arrested for at least nine felonies -- four in San Diego and five in Virginia -- in the last 33 years.
Detectives told family members that Cartwright was once a customer of Radda's, and now he is behind bars, accused of killing him.
"I hope that he asks for forgiveness, and I hope he realizes what a tremendous loss we as a family have suffered," Venus sobbed.
RELATED: Police searching for masked suspect in East Village homicide
Cartwright will be arraigned on Friday afternoon.
The woman wearing the purple wig has not been arrested.
Anyone with information is asked to call San Diego Police Homicide Unit at 619-531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
RELATED: Crime expert: Mask may be key to solving East Village murder
Radda left behind a wife and two young children. A GoFundMe account has been started for his family.
