Ex-Raider's Daughter Slain / Boyfriend of Tracey Biletnikoff arrested at Mexico border

Tracey Biletnikoff, the 20-year- old daughter of Oakland Raiders great Fred Biletnikoff, was found slain yesterday in Redwood City, prompting an intense manhunt for her boyfriend, who was arrested last night near the Mexican border.

Mohammed Ali, a 23-year-old convicted kidnapper, was arrested at 9 p.m yesterday as he tried to slip into Mexico while driving Biletnikoff's 1988 blue Chevrolet Nova. He was being held on a no-bail murder warrant issued in San Mateo County late yesterday afternoon.

"We have her car, full of her stuff," Sheriff's Sergeant Bill Cody said last night minutes after the arrest. "No one has to worry. He's in custody now."

The arrest came at the San Ysidro crossing near Tijuana after the Border Patrol ran a check and found the fresh murder warrant. Ali is still on probation for a 1995 kidnapping.

Sheriff's deputies were on their way to San Diego last night to pick up Ali and return him and the car to San Mateo County.

The young woman's body was found early yesterday at the quiet Canada College campus. The discovery came only hours after San Mateo police received a tip from a frantic caller warning that Ali may have killed her.

The couple was last seen arguing while leaving Friendship Hall, a San Mateo drug and alcohol recovery center. San Mateo police searched throughout the night but were unable to find the couple.

The search ended about 7:30 a.m. yesterday when a maintenance worker picking up trash at Canada College spotted a woman's body down a dirt embankment about 50 feet below a seldom-used parking lot. The body, partially clothed and apparently dumped over a berm, was resting next to a small grove of oak and eucalyptus trees above some tennis courts.

Cody declined to say how the young woman had been killed or whether she had been sexually assaulted. He said the body had been there several hours before it was found.

According to sources, a despondent Ali called a friend to say he may have hit Biletnikoff hard enough to kill her during an argument. Ali told the friend that it was an accident and that he threw her body off a cliff. The friend then called San Mateo police at about 12:30 a.m. and police began their search.

Tracey Biletnikoff was one of Fred Biletnikoff's five children. The ex-football star, who lives in the East Bay community of Blackhawk, and his former wife, who lives in Southern California, were notified of their daughter's death.

"They are pretty devastated at this point," Cody said.

Cody confirmed that Ali is on probation in San Mateo County. Sources close to the investigation said he was convicted in 1995 for kidnapping a former girlfriend in South San Francisco.

Ali and Tracey Biletnikoff had been dating for several months, Cody said. Tracey Biletnikoff had a "connection" to Canada College, but Cody declined to elaborate.

The community college is located off Farm Hill Boulevard, just east of Interstate 280. The school, perched on a hillside with sweeping views of the Bay Area, was dark and quiet on the holiday night, with easy access to and from the freeway.

Yesterday, rain fell from slate skies as firefighters used a winch to hoist the body up the embankment. It was placed in a San Mateo County Coroner's van and taken to the morgue.

Authorities did not release the cause of death. Sources said the body had no obvious signs of gunshot or stab wounds but showed signs of a beating.

Fingerprints were used to identify the body as that of Tracey Biletnikoff, Cody said.

The victim's brother, Fred Biletnikoff Jr., said his sister had been in the Bay Area for the past two years. Before that, she lived with her mother in Encinitas, a beach community about 25 miles north of San Diego.

"She was doing real well here," he said. "But I don't know much about her personal life."

The younger Biletnikoff said his sister had been living with her dad in the East Bay and attending school at the College of San Mateo for the past year.

"As far as Mohammed Ali, I don't know anything about him," he said.

Cody released few details about Ali, who also goes by the name "Haroon." Ali has lived in South San Francisco and San Mateo, and investigators staked out several locations in the Bay Area looking for him, he said.

Fred Biletnikoff played for the Oakland Raiders from 1965 to 1978 and is currently a coach for the team. An All-American at Florida State University, he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988.

The Raiders issued a statement that said, "Our sympathy and prayers are with the Biletnikoff family."