The man accused of breaking into the home of the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, in San Francisco and beating her husband with a hammer grew up in Canada, became a nudist activist in the Bay Area, and spread far-right conspiracy theories before being linked to the attack on Friday, according to relatives and various media reports.
David DePape, the 42-year-old suspect booked with attempting to murder Paul Pelosi, grew up in Powell River, British Columbia, but left about two decades ago to maintain a romantic relationship that led him to California, his stepfather Gene DePape told CNN.
He had since become estranged from his family, Gene DePape and an uncle named Mark DePape said to CNN. But David DePape’s name and photo surfaced in San Francisco Chronicle news coverage for his living in a three-bedroom Victorian flat in Berkeley with a known nudist activist named Oxane “Gypsy” Taub, her three children and her fiance, Jaymz Smith.
Smith and Taub had asked DePape, described as a hemp jewellery maker, to be the best man at a wedding they planned to hold on the steps of San Francisco’s city hall.
Taub was convicted last year of various criminal charges, including stalking and attempted child abduction.
Listed years ago in voting records as a Green party supporter, DePape said he also took to the streets with activists who opposed a successful push to ban public nudity in San Francisco, the Chronicle also reported.
More recently, Gene DePape and Mark DePape said, David maintained a Facebook account containing multiple conspiracy-laden posts.
The account, which was taken down by Facebook’s owner Meta on Friday, included links to videos produced by the My Pillow CEO, Mike Lindell, which falsely claimed that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Republican incumbent Donald Trump in favor of his Democratic rival Joe Biden.
Other posts mentioned videos falsely proclaiming that the congressional committee investigating the US Capitol attack staged by Trump supporters on January 6 had collapsed, and another was titled: “Global Elites Plan To Take Control Of YOUR Money! (Revealed)”.
Additionally, he purportedly managed a blog under the domain godisloving.wordpress.com – also deactivated on Friday – on which he regularly posted rants concerning the “ruling class”.
The blog also had a banner reading “Weclome [sic] to Big Brothers Censorship Hell” above numerous posts rambling about government, media, tech and alien conspiracies, among other topics.
Speaking to CNN, a DePape acquaintance named Linda Schneider said that she met him about eight years ago. He was living in a storage unit in Berkeley and described him as struggling with hard drugs at the time.
Schneider said she later began receiving “really disturbing” emails from him, adding that he was “using biblical justification to do harm”.
Another acquaintance, Laura Hayes, told CNN that she worked with DePape about 10 years ago and helped him make the hemp bracelets that he sold as part of a business he ran.
“He was very odd – he didn’t make eye contact very well,” Hayes said, adding that he told her that “he talks to angels and there will be a hard time coming”.
On Friday, San Francisco police alleged that DePape broke into the home of the 82-year-old Pelosis in a targeted act. Wielding a hammer, he allegedly attacked Paul Pelosi and asked, “Where is Nancy, where is Nancy?”
The speaker was not at home at the time – she was in Washington DC with a security detail which accompanies her at all times, as standard.
Pelosi dialed 911 himself and got police to check on him after telling the burglar that he had to use the bathroom and then calling on his phone, which had been charging there, Politico reported.
Police then went to the Pelosis’ place at about 2.30am on Friday, and they found both Paul Pelosi and DePape both grasping at the hammer. Officers immediately arrested DePape, who had apparently planned to tie up Paul Pelosi until the speaker of the House returned home.
First responders took Paul Pelosi to a hospital to be treated for blunt force trauma to his head and body. A spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi said her businessman husband had undergone “successful surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands” and was expected to make a full physical recovery.
Authorities on Friday were expecting to charge DePape with attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary and other felonies.
• This article was amended on 29 October 2022 to correct the spelling of British Columbia.
