High school wrestling coach accused of killing bail bondsman

By Daniel Macht, Brittany Hope, Lee Anne Denyer

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KCRA) — A Sacramento man who worked as a high school wrestling coach has been charged with murder in the killing of a 56-year-old bail bondsman in downtown Sacramento early Monday.

The victim, Kevin Brace, was a longtime employee of Greg Padilla Bail Bonds on I Street, where the company’s co-owner said the assault took place.

Brace had worked as a bail bondsman downtown for more than 34 years and was on his usual overnight shift when attacked, Greg Padilla Bail Bonds co-owner Topo Padilla said.

Police said they responded to reports of the assault in the 500 block of I Street around 4:15 a.m. Officers and later Sacramento Fire Department personnel performed life-saving measures on Brace but he died at the scene.

Padilla said it was his understanding that the suspect was knocking on the door in a “cordial” interaction and asking to use the phone of the bond office.

Brace went to try to help him and was dragged out of the office and attacked, he said.

Multiple security cameras from the business captured the attack, he said.

“Kevin was a human being that worked in this town and just like the people who walk the streets in this town thought he was safe being where he was,” Padilla said. “Kevin was just a man who would not harm anybody.”

Padilla described Brace as a “gentle giant” who loved to watch wrestling and spent his entire career on the graveyard shift because he wanted to help people in their time of need.

“He was a simple man,” Padilla said. “He wanted to work overnights. He said people that are in jail in the overnight deserve to have a bondsman here for them.”

Police arrested 38-year-old Jacob Mandell and said investigators are working to determine the motive for the deadly assault.

The San Juan Unified School District confirmed Mandell coached the wrestling team for El Camino Fundamental High School for the past 2023-24 season. That season wrapped up in March. The district said its coaches are seasonal employees and Mandell is not an active employee.

Mandell appeared in court Wednesday in a hearing that lasted two minutes to hear the murder charge against him. He’ll next be due in court on June 12.

Padilla said that Mandell had been a prior client in 2020 who was bailed out for resisting arrest, but believed Brace did not know him. He said it was “bizarre” that Brace was a big fan of professional wrestling and his alleged attacker is a wrestling coach.

He said Brace’s wife was too distraught to join them for a news conference and was planning her husband’s funeral.

Being a bail bondsman is not a dangerous job “even when we go out and apprehend people,” Padilla said.

Brace’s 17-year-old niece Jordan said her uncle “was an amazing man. He was kind. He loved his family, his community.”

Anyone with information is urged to call the dispatch center at 916-808-5471 or Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers at 916-443-HELP (4357).

This story is developing. Stay with KCRA 3 for updates.

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