SAN LEANDRO — Samuel Langworthy claimed he just wanted to see his kids one more time.
Family members had accused Langworthy of domestic violence. His wife and her family had been avoiding him. But on Nov. 11, 2023, Langworthy’s estranged wife agreed to meet him in a public place so he could interact with the two children they shared. It was an act of compassion Langworthy allegedly repaid by fatally shooting his 24-year-old stepdaughter in front of his wife and several family members, according to witness testimony.
Now Langworthy, 50, is at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, awaiting trial in the killing of Dorcas-Cothy Kabasele. Witness testimony at Langworthy’s preliminary hearing in June established that Kabasele made a last-ditch effort to warn her mother to leave with the kids, perhaps sensing that violence was imminent.
“She was telling me to leave, ‘You have to leave. I don’t want you to be here. This man is dangerous. You need to leave, mom,’” Kabasele’s mother testified at the hearing. A few moments after hearing the warning, Langworthy allegedly went to his car, retrieved a pistol and shot Kabasele in the parking lot of a Chili’s in San Leandro where the fractured family were meeting.
Langworthy would later tell police that he meant to fire into the air in order to ease tensions during an argument between family members. But police say he hadn’t counted on Kabasele’s 13-year-old sister, who sat in a vehicle a short distance away, filming the entire thing with her phone. Investigators later seized the footage and say it shows Langworthy shooting his stepdaughter in the neck, according to court records.
When the victim’s mother heard the shot and turned, Langworthy still had the gun raised in his hand, with an “angry, weird” look on his face.
“It was like the devil in person,” Kabasele’s mother testified, adding that a few moments later, her daughter, “Fell into my arms.”
The shooting occurred around 2:45 p.m. outside the restaurant in the Bayfair Center. Langworthy had ordered food — ostensibly to share with his children — when the argument broke out in the parking lot, according to witness testimony.
Langworthy has been charged with murder, possessing a firearm and ammunition as a felon and having an assault weapon later discovered during a search of his home, according to court records. Police say he has addresses in Modesto and Oakland, and that during an interview, he insisted the fatal shooting was an accident and that he had no idea Kabasele had died.
He was arrested by California Highway Patrol about three hours after the shooting, and made no effort to evade them, authorities said. At some point between the shooting and his arrest, he allegedly disposed of the suspected murder weapon.
Langworthy is next due in court on Oct. 27. His trial date has not yet been set.