The suspected arsonist was named by police as a person of interest in the still-unsolved disappearance of Heaven McGee, who allegedly named him as her pimp a month before she went missing.
Marcus Freeman, 38, allegedly attempted to burn down a store on the 3000 block of San Pablo Avenue in Oakland twice within a week, including the first March 2 attempt when police say he poured an accelerant from a five-gallon canister and lit a flame.
The second attempt, on March 9, caused “significant” damage and occurred when an employee was inside the store, police said in court filings. “Marcus stop it is not going to do nothing,” someone could be heard yelling during the March 2 incident, according to police. Authorities allege that the motive for both attempts were related to the March 1 killing of 35-year-old Matthew Pierce, Freeman’s brother, who was shot at the same location. While the store’s workers refused to share surveillance footage of the killing with police, they allegedly started showing it to customers, which was interpreted by Pierce’s family as disrespect to the dead, authorities said. Freeman, who is free after posting $250,000 bail, was charged with two felony counts of attempted arson, court records show. He pleaded not guilty and was ordered to stay away from the store as a condition of his release. Pierce’s killing remains unsolved. Police said at the time he was shot by another person during a confrontation. FBI officials are offering a $10,000 for information leading to the location of Heaven Desiree McGee, who was last seen in Stockton on Jan. 20. She has ties to Oakland and San Jose. Authorities say that Freeman was also investigated late last year as a person of interest in the still-unsolved January 2025 disappearance of Heaven McGee, who was believed to be a victim of human trafficking at the time. McGee, 22, was known to frequent Oakland but was last seen in Stockton, according to police. No one has been charged in McGee’s disappearance. Police have two leading theories about what may have happened to her: She was either taken by a prospective sex trafficking client, or she was harmed or abducted by an exploiter. Freeman’s vehicle was seen leaving Oakland and driving to Stockton around the time of her disappearance, police said in court filings, which is one of the reasons he was investigated. A month before she disappeared, McGee called police frantic and said her pimp was attempting to fight her, then provided the name “Marcus Freeman,” who also went by the nickname “New Money,” authorities said. They later talked to another suspected sex worker who said that McGee and Freeman had a falling out in late 2024. But McGee had also previously been trafficked by a 26-year-old suspected Oakland gang leader, who was also known to frequent Stockton, and who McGee allegedly contacted shortly before her disappearance, authorities said. Neither man was ever arrested or charged, court records show. Oakland gambling shack security guard avoids jail for having gun that was used in homicide weeks earlier ‘My actions that day in Berkeley were inexcusable’: Man sentenced for having gun months after release in gang murder caseEast Bay man gets life without parole for killing a man four months after suspect's release from prison The FBI exhumed a Northern California K-9 commander’s dog in a cold case murder. But what really killed Fuzz? In late 2025, Oakland investigators took the unusual step of surveilling Freeman in San Francisco, where he appeared in court for a misdemeanor federal hit-and-run case, court records show. Federal prosecutors have moved to violate the terms of his supervised release in that case because of the alleged arson, according to court filings. In November 2025, Freeman’s mother filed a support letter in the federal case, stating her son was doing his best in life after losing a longtime career when the company he worked for filed for bankruptcy. “Today Marcus has worked hard to be accountable, dealing with situations by not getting into any trouble, and has worked out a reasonable solution where he tends to his son’s daily needs, in and out of school, and his daily sports activities, his son is involved in,” the letter says. “He also registered for school to further his trade in agriculture, which was the field he worked in.”NCS greenlights East Bay football realignment, power league possible by 2028OpenAI signs lease for Richmond building as company expandsOwner of troubled Blackhawk Plaza in East Bay files for bankruptcy‘You allowed her to suffer and die’: Mother of Hayward girl found decomposing in bathroom is sentenced to prison
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