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A 20-year-old Lincoln man was arrested Thursday after he allegedly helped clean up blood and conceal evidence in the immediate aftermath of a July homicide at Branched Oak Lake, deputies said in court records.

Prosecutors accused Saif Saber of being an accessory to a class 1 felony and tampering with evidence in charges filed Friday, more than a month after 42-year-old Benjamin Case died after he was shot twice July 19 aboard his boat, which was docked at the lake's marina about 20 miles northwest of Lincoln.

Lancaster County Sheriff's deputies arrested 22-year-old Taban Rik for the killing July 24, later charging him with six felonies, including first-degree murder. In now-sealed court records, investigators said a drug robbery appears to be the motive behind Case's killing.

But before investigators ever suspected Rik's involvement in the homicide, Saber was helping Rik destroy evidence in the eventual case against him — all while researching the alleged murder in the media, Investigator Jeremy Schwarz said in the affidavit for Saber's arrest.

Deputies contacted Saber, who they say had previously visited Case's boat with Rik, at a house near Ninth and Sumner streets July 27, where he told investigators he had lost his Apple iPhone at a grocery store recently.

Investigators, though, found the phone locked in a safe in the house while serving a search warrant, Schwarz said in the affidavit.

Searching the phone's data — also subject to a search warrant — deputies found that Saber had researched the lake, breaking news involving the lake and had tuned into police and fire scanner traffic between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. July 20, the hours that immediately followed Case's shooting, Schwarz said.

Over the next four days, Saber Googled the homicide and Rik's name nine more times, according to the affidavit.

Then, in mid-August, investigators interviewed acquaintances of Saber, who said he had arrived at the house on Sumner Street in the early morning hours of July 20 and asked for cleaning products, Schwarz wrote.

Saber grabbed cleaning products from the kitchen and headed back outside, where Rik's red 2009 Red Toyota Camry was parked, residents told investigators.

When deputies searched Rik's car July 25, the day after he was arrested, Schwarz said it had been cleaned and its floor mats removed.

Still, crime scene technicians collected DNA samples from a blood stain on the driver's side floorboard and sent the samples to the Nebraska State Patrol Crime Lab, where test results returned last week indicated the blood belonged to Case, Schwarz said in the affidavit.

Deputies arrested Saber at 7 a.m. Thursday and took him to the Lancaster County Jail.

Judge Laurie Yardley set his percentage bond at $250,000 at a hearing Friday. He must pay $25,000 to be released. 

Reach the writer at 402-473-7223 or awegley@journalstar.com.

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A Kansas City, Missouri, native, Andrew Wegley joined the Journal Star as breaking news reporter after graduating from Northwest Missouri State University in May 2021.

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