Woman 'just knew' of son's death

<p>Catalina Ruiz Gonzalez awoke a week ago today to find her 17-year-old son, Pedro, eating breakfast and preparing to leave their Geyserville home for his job at a Larkfield market.</p><p>She cautioned him to leave plenty of time for the drive so he wouldn't have to hurry through traffic.</p><p>"Don't worry, Mommy," he told her, "I will be OK."</p><p>That was the last time Gonzalez saw her son alive.</p><p>Pedro "Pepe" Gonzalez Ruiz was reported missing last Friday night, and his body was found Sunday morning off Westside Road near Forestville. He had been shot multiple times.</p><p>His 19-year-old cousin, Jose Mendez Gonzalez of Healdsburg, was arrested on suspicion of murder. He is being held without bail in Sonoma County Jail and is due in court today.</p><p>"I have no clue why he would do it," Angelo Gonzalez said Thursday during an interview at Windsor-Healdsburg Mortuary, which is handling his son's funeral. "I don't know exactly what happened."</p><p>Angelo Gonzalez, a maintenance worker, said his nephew spent time with his sons and occasionally visited their home but that he didn't know him very well.</p><p>Mendez, the son of Angelo Gonzalez's sister, and Pedro worked together at Molsberry's Market in Larkfield.</p><p>They drove together in Mendez's car to the scene of the shooting, Sonoma County Sheriff's Lt. Rob Giordano said Thursday.</p><p>Mendez thought Gonzalez Ruiz had mistreated him, investigators said, but they haven't provided further details.</p><p>Giordano said investigators believe Gonzalez Ruiz was killed sometime between Friday night and Saturday night, and that the shooting occurred at or near the spot where his body was found Sunday.</p><p>The news late Sunday of their son's death and Monday of their nephew's arrest followed a harrowing weekend of worry for the Gonzalezes, who reported Pedro missing Friday night after someone called their son Jaime to pick up Pedro's car at a fast-food restaurant in Healdsburg.</p><p>Returning from Carl's Jr. with Pedro's vehicle, Jaime alerted police to his missing brother, the parents said.</p><p>Along with their mother, "Jaime was also crying inconsolably because he couldn't find his brother, and because it was unlike his brother," Catalina Ruiz Gonzalez recalled.</p><p>Pedro's mother's dreams grew increasingly disturbing as the nights passed.</p><p>At first, she said, she dreamed one of Pedro's friends had died. But she woke up Sunday morning screaming "and just knew," she said, speaking through an interpreter. "A mother's heart knows there's something wrong."</p><p>The family had recently moved from Healdsburg to Geyserville.</p><p>Along with his family, friends and mentors at his school, Marce Becerra Academy in Healdsburg, and co-workers from Molsberry's Market are mourning Gonzalez Ruiz.</p><p>Mendez is scheduled to enter a plea when he appears in court today.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Katy Hillenmeyer at 521-5274 or </p><p>katy.hillenmeyer@pressdemocrat.com.</p>