Sunny side of the street’s dark side

For San Francisco commuters and jazz aficionados alike, there’s nothing like an early morning dose of live jazz playing at your local BART station.

That is, until you learn that the friendly saxophonist playing beautiful music to your ears is accused of being a con man and fugitive killer on the lam for more than two decades.

Police say a man who blew jazz standards for years to commuters passing through Embarcadero Station in the Financial District is actually Ronald Brewington, a 63-year-old man who Albuquerque police arrested Monday in connection with the death of his 37-year-old ex-wife, Diedre, in 1987.

Brewington is accused of shooting and killing his ex-wife then grabbing the names and social security numbers of people he encountered during his long run as a fugitive to mask his tracks along the way. Albuquerque police took another look at the case last fall, and picked up Brewington’s trail in California.

Brewington had been known under the name Garrick Sherrod before getting arrested. The Chron reported investigators located the real Garrick Sherrod, a 43-year-old Ventura County man whose identity was compromised years ago when Brewington, his girlfriend’s mom’s boyfriend at the time, skipped town after they confronted him about his identity scams.

Albuquerque cops arrested Brewington on a BART platform Monday, playing his saxophone with his hat in front of him collecting money.