A 45-year-old Mechanicsville man is being held in an Orange County, Calif., jail today after being charged in the death of an elderly Arizona investor.

Gary A. Shawkey, whose address is listed as the 8000 block of Peaks Road, faces a murder charge in the February 2008 killing of Robert Vendrick, 71, of Phoenix.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office filed special circumstances murder for financial gain charges against Shawkey “for luring an elderly Phoenix investor onto a boat off Dana Point Harbor last February.”

According to a statement released on Feb. 13 by District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, Shawkey “was charged with one count of murder with a sentencing enhancement of intentional murder carried out for financial gain.”

The district attorney, whose office is based in Santa Ana, said Shawkey is not eligible for bail.

Spokesperson Farrah Emami said on Friday that “he was already in custody in Virginia on unrelated charges. California law enforcement went out and picked him up.”

She said he had been “arrested in New Jersey and extradited to Virginia. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office flew out to Virginia to bring him back yesterday (Thursday, March 26).”

In the Feb. 13 release, Emami said that Shawkey “is accused of swindling about $1 million” from Vendrick, who had retired from the software industry, “for a few years prior to February 2008.“ She said Shawkey had allegedly promised Vendrick “great returns on imaginary investments.“

When Vendrick became “reluctant to to invest more money,” Emami said Shawkey reportedly convinced him “to invest in a new venture involving the development of ‘top secret computer software’ for the federal government.”

“The defendant is accused of convincing the victim to wire $100,000 to a bank account and telling the victim to fly to Orange County to meet with federal agents to finalize the project,” she added.

Shawkey is said to have then bought and boat, “convincing the victim to sail to San Clemente Island to meet with ‘federal agents.’ ” The two men “got on the boat and sailed out of Dana Point Harbor and the victim was never seen again.”

Emami said Shawkey “is accused of murdering Vendrick and disposing of the body for financial gain” sometime between Feb. 14 and Feb. 24, 2008.

She also said that “Shawkey has claimed to be a professional fisherman and a bail bondsman, among other professions. At the time of the arrest by Virginia authorities on the unrelated charges, the defendant claimed he was working for a limousine company in New Jersey.”

The case was investigated by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. It is being prosecuted by Senior Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh of the Homicide Unit.