A man shot and killed during the weekend was attempting to leave a marijuana site near Dry Creek Valley when two men shot him to death, said a Sonoma County sheriff's official Monday.
Autopsy results show that Gabino Lopez Santiago, 46, of Healdsburg was shot in the head and in the chest. Sheriff's Office officials said his body was then dumped about 10 miles away, off of Mill Creek Road near southwestern Healdsburg.
New details in the homicide were released Monday and pointed to two men suspected of the shooting and a family member of Santiago's who was arrested after reporting the violence.
"...(He) must have had a change of heart," said sheriff's Sgt. Carlos Basurto, of Santiago's brother-in-law. "He is the one who went to the Healdsburg police to report the shooting."
Ramon Velasco Lopez, 28, of Healdsburg went into the Sheriff's Office at about 2 a.m. Sunday to report that his brother-in-law had been shot while at a marijuana garden property on Chemise Road.
Deputies went to the area, above Dry Creek Road. They found signs of violence, but no body.
At about 7 a.m. that same day a newspaper delivery person driving along Mill Creek Road spotted a body off the roadway and called 911.
Detectives connected the body to the violence at the marijuana garden and arrested Sidonio Santos Cruz, 35, of Santa Rosa and Agustin Zepeda-Onofre, 23, of Windsor at the Chemise Road property. They arrested Lopez in Healdsburg.
Santiago is from Mexico and apparently had no family here other than his brother-in-law. He began doing some landscaping work in the area and didn't appear to be connected to the marijuana garden, Basurto said.
Saturday Santiago went to the garden with someone else. He was there awhile when arguments broke out, Basurto said. What those arguments were about remained part of the investigation, he said.
"Our understanding is at some point he was trying to run away from the suspects and was shot," Basurto said.
Suspects Santos Cruz and Zepeda-Onofre are the suspected shooters, Basurto said.
The three suspects were allegedly working the garden. Whether they were working for themselves or someone else remained unclear, Basurto said.
Detectives found harvested plants being dried and a camp at the garden, believed to be where the workers sometimes stayed.
The marijuana was planted on land about 60 yards from the roadway, in hilly terrain not far from vineyards. Dry Creek Valley is prime Sonoma County land for grape growing.
The three men were arrested on suspicion of murder, conspiracy, accessory to a crime, cultivation of marijuana and destroying or concealing evidence.
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