Heroin suspected in death at Santa Rosa apartment complex

Santa Rosa police are investigating what appears to be a fatal heroin overdose involving a 44-year-old Rohnert Park woman who was found in the parking area of a west Santa Rosa apartment complex Wednesday night.

A caller alerted police shortly after 9:30 p.m. When officers and medical personnel arrived they found the woman lying on the ground near the pool area of the complex near Coffey Lane and Plata Court. She was not breathing and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Police said a second woman, described as a 37-year-old Sonoma County resident, also was found lying on the ground and suffering from symptoms of “extreme drug intoxication,” police said in a statement. The woman was taken to a local hospital and is expected to live.

Officers learned that a man who was with the women had brought them down to the parking area from a nearby apartment where they were using heroin.

The man, who was identified as Anthony Arteseros, 26, of Santa Rosa, fled before emergency personnel arrived, police said.

Arteseros was located by police and arrested on an unrelated outstanding felony warrant. Police said Arteseros called 911 but left the scene because he knew he was wanted.

Police then identified the apartment where the group had taken the heroin and spoke to the resident, a 39-year-old man who police said helped Arteseros carry the dead woman’s body to the parking lot.

“Based on the investigation, it is suspected the victim likely overdosed on drugs taken by her own volition,” police said in a statement, adding that there was no evidence of foul play or trauma to the woman’s body.

An autopsy is being conducted to determine the cause of death, polices said. The name of the dead woman is being held pending notification of her family.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @renofish.