Paul McManus was killed five years ago. His family is still waiting for justice

Every time she passes a green light at an intersection, Jennifer McManus thinks of her 40-year-old son, Paul.

In October 2021, the Melbourne-born tech engineer was riding home on his motorcycle from a James Taylor concert when a driver allegedly ran a red light and struck him at a busy intersection in San Francisco’s Mission District.

He was taken to hospital with critical injuries after 11pm and died before midnight.

The woman allegedly driving the grey Jeep Compass, Breanna Gordon, then aged 32, was charged with misdemeanour vehicular manslaughter and released from police custody.

The man in Gordon’s passenger seat – identified as her boyfriend at the time – fled the scene before police arrived due to having two active warrants out for his arrest, according to police allegations.

Thousands of kilometres away in the Victorian town of Aireys Inlet, Jennifer McManus was in the shower after spending the day at the beach with her family when her daughter, Sarah, took a call from Paul’s wife, Fern, in California.

“I knew it was midnight there, and Fern wouldn’t usually ever call us, it was always Paul’s phone, so I instantly thought something was wrong,” Sarah recalls.

“She was upset, and she said, ‘There’s been an accident’, and she was like, ‘Well, Paul’s dead’. Mum was in the shower, and we were just in shock.”

In San Francisco, Fern remembers going out to search for Paul when he didn’t return home that night. She recalls remaining oddly calm after arriving at the scene of the crash when she went out to look for him, a habit she picked up from her husband, whom she describes as “devastatingly funny” and one of the “most brilliant people I’ll ever know”.

“He had this sort of code of behaviour where he would not freak out about anything before he had all the facts,” Fern says. “I remember when the worst imaginable happened, I found myself grateful that he had helped equip me with this toolkit of how to deal with horrible things.”

The pair met in Mexico while travelling with friends a decade earlier and bonded over a conversation about the famous oceanographer Sylvia Earle. They were married for more than a year when he died.

Six weeks after the crash, Gordon failed to appear for a court arraignment hearing and for three years the case lingered in pre-trial status due to a backlog of pending cases caused by COVID-19.

When the case was finally set for trial in June 2024, Gordon again failed to show in court and a bench warrant was issued for her arrest. Despite ongoing pleas to US authorities to track her down, family members say they were told there were not enough police resources to locate her.

“She [Gordon] hasn’t had a period of not driving, that we know of,” Jennifer says.

“She got her car back before Fern got Paul’s motorbike back from the insurance company.”

A spokesperson for Gordon was contacted for comment.

Frustrated, the McManus family considered hiring a private investigator for thousands of dollars but ultimately decided against it. After contacting the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, they were told that nothing could be done to help them except lodging an overseas death certificate.

It was not until two years later, in May 2026, that Gordon was re-arrested on a bench warrant and brought back to San Francisco. Paul’s family says they learnt of the development from a journalist at The San Francisco Standard.

“You would have thought the government would do more in the circumstances, but we haven’t heard anything since that,” Paul’s brother, Dave, says.

After almost five years in limbo, the family is now preparing for Paul’s case to go to trial by the end of October. Although they have since established regular contact with California’s district attorney, they remain deeply sceptical about the prospect of a swift resolution.

Paul, who grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Eltham, is described by his loved ones as an adventurous, humble and fiercely unique spirit. He spent much of his childhood diving and spearfishing with siblings Dave, Sarah and older brother Luke.

“He should have been born with gills,” Dave says. “Paul did a lot for ocean conservation and a lot of his friends and network in San Francisco were a part of that.”

At the time of his death, he and his brother Dave were working on launching a seaweed farm to regenerate ocean habitats, a business his brother has since launched in his honour.

Hundreds of people, including police officers who were at the scene of the crash, attended a funeral paddle-out ceremony in his honour at Dillon Beach, north of San Francisco, and at Point Roadknight on Victoria’s Surf Coast.

Paul’s parents are clear about what justice looks like for their son.

“We just want simple justice and whatever it is – it needs be done in a fair way,” his father Brian says.

Jennifer adds: “There should be some sort of rehabilitation program, that’s what Paul would have wanted. Just something worthwhile and putting something good back into the world.”

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