Evidence mounts that pot-garden death was suicide

Mendocino County sheriff’s detectives searching a remote marijuana garden near Yorkville found a shotgun believed used in the suicide of a man whose body was then dumped by friends at a state park.

Lt. Rusty Noe Tuesday said evidence continued to point toward a suicide rather than a homicide as detectives first suspected.

An autopsy Monday indicated Aguilar’s death apparently was caused by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Noe said.

“We’re pretty convinced, although we’re not done yet,” Noe said.

Detectives Monday found a pistol-grip shotgun at the spot they believe Salvadore Alfonso Aguilar, 20, died.

Aguilar had been working at a marijuana garden off remote Fishrock Road late last week when he reportedly took his life over a recent breakup.

Frightened friends, including his ex-girlfriend, who were at the garden when he died, found his body and eventually drove it to Hendy Woods state park and dumped it alongside a trail near the park entrance.

Noe said detectives are determining precisely what happened and then will work with prosecutors regarding possible charges involving the marijuana garden, hiding evidence and disposing of the body.

Detectives recovered about 100 pot plants at the garden.