OAKLAND — An Oakland man has been ordered to stand trial on charges of murdering and robbing a Bay Area couple who were on their way to attend a world-renowned hip-hop festival when they were gunned down in East Oakland, court records show.
Keith “Keys” Riley, 39, was held to answer on charges of murdering Emeryville residents Ryan Wasilausky and his girlfriend Giovanna “Gigi” Giannini, both 20, in the Sept. 28, 2019 shooting.
Witness testimony established that Riley and Wasilausky were friends who planned to attend day one of the two-day Rolling Loud 2019 festival in Oakland. After allegedly shooting the couple and stealing a Cuban link chain and other items, Riley ran a few blocks away, called a friend for a ride out of the area, and said something to the effect of, “I owe you my life,” when the driver showed up, according to a transcript of the August preliminary hearing.
“Not only is there probable cause that Mr. Riley is the perpetrator of those crimes but I have no doubt on the evidence presented to me that he was,” Judge Thomas Reardon said at the preliminary hearing.
Riley’s trial date has not yet been set. He remains in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on a no-bail hold.
At the hearing, police identified Riley as a security guard for an unnamed rapper and the cannabis company Runtz. One of Wasilausky’s friends testified that Wasilausky was a friend of the company’s co-founder, a rapper who goes by the stage name Yung LB. Through phone records, witness statements, and video surveillance, police determined the couple and Riley were planning to go to the festival as a group and that Wasilausky had called earlier in the day to offer him a ride, according to a court transcript.
In an ironic twist of fate, the lead investigator, Oakland police Det. Wenceslao Garcia, was also at Rolling Loud that day. Garcia testified that at around 11 a.m. that day he was setting up cones in the Oakland Coliseum for what was supposed to be a relatively relaxing shift working security for the festival when he was called to the 500 block of Douglas Avenue for a report of a double homicide.
Both victims suffered multiple gunshot wounds while in a silver Ford Focus, which careened into a nearby residence after Wasilausky, the driver, was shot, according to police. Investigators quickly determined the couple lived together at an Emeryville apartment, and that video surveillance there captured Wasilausky making a call before he and Giannini got into the Ford and headed toward Oakland, according to court records.
By analyzing phone records, police found Wasilausky’s phone dialed a number that they ultimately determined was Riley’s, according to police testimony. Video surveillance near the shooting showed Riley being picked up by a Mazda a short distance away. When police arrested the Mazda’s owner, he at first claimed to be in Los Angeles at the time and said he lent car to some friends. But when pressed, he said he had picked up Riley from Edes and 98th Avenues, about a half-mile from the double homicide, on the morning of Sept. 28, Garcia said on the witness stand.
According to Wasilausky’s obituary, he was born in Walnut Creek but grew up in Dublin and was a 2017 graduate of Dublin High. He was in his third year studying business at Cal State East Bay. The obituary says that he was a self-starter from a young age, took pleasure in showering his family with love and gifts and enjoyed traveling with his beloved girlfriend, “Gigi.”
“He was treasured by all who knew him and will be deeply missed,” the obituary says.
Giannini, a Daly City native, was killed just two days before her 21st birthday, after her mother had already written her a birthday card.
“The day you were born I loved you more than life itself. TODAY Twenty-one beautiful years later, in just a blink of an eye, you’ve become this beautiful woman inside and out,” the letter read, according to Giannini’s obituary. “You have taught me so much about life, love and forgiveness … I pray that your path in life is filled with light, health, peace and happiness.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com