A man charged with killing a sailor 32 years ago in Point Loma posted $500,000 bond this week after a judge changed his no-bail status after he was extradited here from Tennessee.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Fox confirmed that Brian Scott Koehl, now 51, posted bond and apparently has returned to his family in Knoxville, Tenn. The jail also confirmed his release.
Koehl has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge in the stabbing death of Larry Joe Breen, 32, who was found without clothing outside his home on May 25, 1990, at the corner of Nimitz Boulevard and Locust Street.
Breen was stabbed several times in the neck and died from loss of blood.
Fox told San Diego Superior Court Judge Laura Halgren that DNA solved the case and that Koehl had admitted to being in the Point Loma house where Breen had rented.
Koehl’s DNA was found on a counter, in the shower, and on beer bottles found in the house, said Fox. She asked that $2 million bail be set in the Aug. 23 hearing.
Breen was a petty officer and cook and was stationed aboard the USS Fox CG-33 at the time. Koehl was 19 years old and in the Navy also at the time.
Koehl told police he attended an event at Breen’s house where others attended and left in Breen’s car. He returned the next day only to find Breen’s body, and he quickly got rid of the car and never reported the homicide to Navy authorities, according to the prosecutor.
“He is happily married to his wife. They have three children,” said Koehl’s attorney, Alicia Freeze, to the judge. “He has no record. There is no danger. He is a hard worker.”
“Mr. Koehl is held in very high regard,” said Freeze, adding that she presented a packet of 26 letters to the judge in support of her client by his friends and neighbors in Tennessee.
Freeze suggested bail be set at $500,000, and Halgren set that was a reasonable amount. It is possible that friends or family members put up a property bond to secure his release.
A Nov. 17 preliminary hearing was set.
Koehl has worked for a food company for 22 years after he was honorably discharged from the Navy in 1997. The 26 letters submitted included comments from his children, other relatives, friends, co-workers, among others, and they stressed he was of good character and unlikely to have ever committed a homicide.
