Arrest made in cold case murder of South Lake Tahoe gas station attendant

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - An arrest has been made in the 2013 Cold Case murder of Manpreet Singh after a witness watched a video created by the El Dorado County Cold Case Task Force.

On August 5, 2013, a male wearing a face mask walked into the US Gasoline Station on the corner of Lodi Avenue and Lake Tahoe Boulevard in South Lake Tahoe and shot and killed the 27-year-old Singh, an employee. The killer then strolled out the front door and disappeared into the night and the case was eventually moved into Cold Case Files.

Singh died after sustaining a single bullet wound to his upper torso and there was no robbery involved in the crime.

In July of 2017, the El Dorado District Attorney’s Office posted a video about the Homicide in hopes that new leads would be generated (can be seen here).

A witness watched the video and contacted investigators in the summer of 2019. The witness told investigators that 34-year-old Sean Donohoe was allegedly responsible for the murder of Manpreet Singh. Sean Donohoe, a current Las Vegas resident, lived in South Lake Tahoe in 2013.

Another person with information on the murder contacted South Tahoe Now in 2019 and was put in contact with the South Lake Tahoe Police Department.

Investigators followed the new information and worked on the case extensively since receiving the lead. California DOJ BFS compared DNA evidence collected from the investigation and Sean Donohoe matched that evidence. The El Dorado County Cold Case Task Force traveled extensively to interview the involved parties.

On May 12, 2020, with the help of the FBI and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Sean Donohoe was arrested for the murder of Manpreet Singh. He is being booked in Las Vegas and will be extradited to El Dorado County.

The El Dorado County Cold Case Task Force is a collaboration between the El Dorado County District Attorneys Office, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office, South Lake Tahoe Police Department, California Department of Justice, Bureau of Forensic Science (BFS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

If you have information on the Murder of Manpreet Singh please contact Det. Herminghaus, SLTPD Jherminghaus@cityofslt.us 530-542-6133 or the Cold Case Task Force at Coldcasetaskforce@edcgov.us, 530-621-4590.