Police arrest suspect in 2012 Santa Rosa slaying

Santa Rosa police detectives Tuesday night arrested a man they suspect stabbed a homeless woman to death in a case that has vexed police for nearly two years since the woman’s body was found Halloween night in 2012.

Jesse Zetino, 22, of Santa Rosa was linked through DNA evidence to the stabbing death of 24-year-old Michela Wooldridge, Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Dave Linscomb said.

Wooldridge’s body was found on a Fourth Street sidewalk before dawn on Nov. 1, just hours after the area had been busy with hundreds of trick-or-treaters. She’d been stabbed multiple times.

Detectives now suspect the knife attack was unprovoked and random in a rare case in which a motive remained elusive even after detectives interviewed Zetino about the events that night, Linscomb said. Zetino and Wooldridge apparently had never met before and encountered each other on Fourth Street by chance, Linscomb said.

“We may never know exactly what was driving him at the time,” Linscomb said.

Not long before her death, Wooldridge, the mother of a little boy, had moved to Santa Rosa from Humboldt County in an attempt to overcome a drug problem with the help of a local outreach program, according to friends and police. Attempts to reach family members Wednesday were unsuccessful.

The investigation ran cold after detectives exhausted all leads and ruled out multiple potential suspects who were in the woman’s life.

The case cracked open by chance after Zetino’s arrest earlier this year by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office on felony drug charges.

Zetino was pulled over for speeding at about 7:20 p.m. Jan. 31 on Fryer Creek Drive at Leveroni Road, Sheriff’s Sgt. Cecile Focha said.

Zetino was arrested on suspicion of having drugs for sale after deputies found he was in possession of psilocybin mushrooms, cash and a scale, Focha said. Zetino’s DNA was taken at the jail as a routine step for anyone brought in on felony charges.

Zetino’s DNA information was then entered into the searchable DNA database CODIS, or Combined DNA Index System, used by law enforcement across the country.

After Santa Rosa police received a notice that Zetino’s DNA was linked to the case, they began retracing his steps.

Linscomb said Zetino lived in the area and had attended several Halloween parties in the historic McDonald Avenue district. Linscomb said investigators suspect Zetino had taken drugs and consumed alcohol that night.

“There’s no indication that he knew the victim or she knew him,” Linscomb said.

Detectives do not suspect robbery or sexual assault were motives in the attack.

Zetino was arrested Tuesday after he was spotted by officers near downtown Santa Rosa at Seventh and B streets. As officers closed in on the man, Zetino began to run, but he quickly surrendered and was apprehended at about 8 p.m., Linscomb said.

Zetino was being held without bail Wednesday in the Sonoma County Jail.

The DNA evidence “was a real break in the case,” Linscomb said. “Really often there’s a connection between the victim and the suspect, or at least some history, having met each other. In this case you had none of that.”

Staff Writer Randi Rossmann ?contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220?or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjreport.