HAYWARD — A man suspected of plotting to have a witness in his murder go “bye-bye” has now caught a new charge, related to a 2022 baseball bat attack that authorities have known about for years, court records show.
Anthony Bergstrom, 56, has already been facing charges of murdering his friend, 53-year-old Jesse Nieto, allegedly based on Bergstrom’s belief that his girlfriend was having sex with Nieto and sending him nude pictures. Prosecutors said at the outset of the case that on Jan. 4, 2023, Bergstrom had bashed Nieto’s head in during a disagreement on Park Street in Hayward, then followed him, engaged in a second physical struggle, and shot him in the head.
This new case against focuses on Bergstrom’s alleged propensity to swing blunt objects at people’s heads. He is accused of fracturing a man’s skull with a baseball bat at the Hayward Plunge on Mission Boulevard about six weeks before he allegedly killed Nieto. The affidavit used to charge Bergstrom is dated Nov. 17, 2022, and says the victim identified Bergstrom immediately when police responded to the incident, and said he wished for prosecution.
It is unclear why prosecutors waited nearly three years — after Bergstrom had already allegedly killed a man, been charged with murder, and spent roughly two years in jail — before filing this second case. The criminal complaint charges Bergstrom with a single count of assault and says he has eight prior convictions.
Six days after he was charged with assault, Bergstrom waived his right to a preliminary hearing in the murder case. In that investigation, police were told by a witness that Bergstrom had claimed that Nieto pulled a gun on him first, and that he wrestled the gun away and shot Bergstrom. Still, Bergstrom was charged with murder in April 2023, court records show.
While in custody, Bergstrom allegedly called his girlfriend from jail and “planned to murder a witness” who was nearby when Bergstrom allegedly killed Nieto, police said in court filings. They allegedly discussed telling a “former documented criminal street gang member” who was friends with Bergstrom that the witness “needs to go bye-bye.”
“Do you understand what I’m telling you right now?” Bergstrom allegedly asked the woman, who confirmed, “Yeah. I get what you’re saying,” according to police.
“I’m telling you that (the witness) needs to disappear for good like a bad love story, like a bad story do we understand that love,” police said in court filings, with the witness’ name redacted.