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Detective: Someone Is Helping Cal Fire Battalion Chief On The Run After Fiancee's Death

SACRAMENTO COUNTY (CBS13) - A statewide manhunt for a former Cal Fire battalion chief accused of stabbing his fiancee to death is into its second week.

CBS13's Derek Shore spoke exclusively to the Sacramento County Sheriff's detective trying to piece it all together.

The search for Orville Fleming, accused of murdering his fiancee Sarah Douglas in their Elk Grove home, started a week ago.

Cal Fire issued a statement saying Fleming was no longer with the department since he hasn't arrived at work in the past five days.

For the past week, Det. Brian Meux and his team have spent day and night trying to track him down.

"Our job is to bring those people to justice," he said.

Meux described the crime scene as a bloody one, where Douglas was stabbed and strangled.

"More brutal probably than most of the assaults that we see," he said.

The detective confirmed to CBS13 that Douglas was on the phone with her sister at the time of the alleged crime.

It seems Fleming, in the process of a divorce, was trying to turn Douglas from a life of prostitution to his new housewife, but paying for it. Both Douglas and Fleming spent time on an escort website. CBS13 found a photo of Douglas advertising her services on MyRedbook.com

"Until we have the opportunity to hear from Mr. Fleming, we don't know what the specific motive was," Meux said.

But what is almost certain is that someone, or many people are helping the veteran fire chief.

"He obviously left the truck and we think the most likely scenario is that he did that in somebody else's vehicle," he said.

Meux says that person is very possibly another person Fleming met on MyRedbook.com, and is less likely to be a fellow firefighter. Regardless, Fleming remains at large and is considered dangerous as his guns haven't been accounted for.

"He has a lot to lose," Meux said. "That gives him a lot of motivation to act erratically."

The detective is hopeful this can end peacefully and sent a message to Fleming:

"Moe, we very much want to see you come in safely. Your family cares about you. We've had a lot of contact with them, and they wish to see and speak with you again."

But how is Fleming surviving on the run?

"Well that has been the burning question for us as well," Meux said. "We know that much of the personal proprety that he owned has been accounted for."

The detective said reports from other media outlets of a supposed sex tape of Cal Fire firefighters having sex with Douglas at a Cal Fire facility isn't important to the manhunt.

"I've heard those allegations," he said. That part of the investigation is relatively unrelated to our investigation of the murder, or the manhunt, so I wouldn't comment on whether we have that kind of evidence that's more pertinent to Cal Fire."

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