Man accused of killing Southern California couple ordered to be held without bail

CHULA VISTA, Calif. (NBC, KYMA) - A suspected killer who evaded arrest for months was ordered to be held without bail Monday because a judge said he's a danger to the public.

Steven Cleveland is accused of killing a Chula Vista couple in January of last year, while on the run for crimes he committed in another state.

Cleveland finally made his first court appearance on charges related to the couple's death Monday.

Inside an Eastlake apartment, 57-year-old Abdul Hasan and his 71-year old girlfriend, Paz Gojar, were both found dead after a welfare check on February 21, 2025.

Prosecutors said they were actually stabbed to death by Cleveland about a month earlier on January 29, while he was getting paid to help the couple move.

"And that's when the defendant decided to stab Hasan ten times. mostly in the back and then went upstairs and stabbed his longtime girlfriend, Ms. Gojar, while she was laying in bed," said Jack Yeh, Deputy District Attorney.

Cleveland pleaded not guilty to the couple's murder during his first court appearance Monday at Chula Vista Superior Court.

The judge has asked an NBC affiliate in San Diego to not to show his face while in court.

Yeh said Hasan first met Cleveland ten days before the murders, offering to help get him on his feet.

"Hasan was trying to help Cleveland, giving him odd jobs," Yeh said in court.

Prosecutors aren't releasing a motive for the crime yet, but they said things were stolen from the couple's apartment on Paseo Carina, including Hasan's car.

They said Cleveland ditched it at the park, hopped in his own car, and then escaped to a friends house in Kentucky.

The now 44-year-old Ohio resident was eventually arrested in neighboring Knoxville, Tennessee before being returned to Ohio, where he was sentenced, earlier this year, to up to 69 years in jail, for multiple rape charges.

Cleveland could face capital murder charges after being extradited to Chula Vista for the deaths of Hasan and Gojar.

"This was just so tragic these seem to be really good people. They were parents, had children...families are devastated, so we're going to do everything we could for them," said one of the prosecutors