Two men sought in death of Rohnert Park woman in Napa County (w/video)

Maria Cruz Pascual Bejar of Rohnert Park spent her last night alive dancing.

That much detectives know. But they do not know the identities of two men who may have been the last people to have seen the 57-year-old woman before she was found dying and alone on a dark Napa County highway.

Napa County sheriff’s officials Wednesday released surveillance video they found that shows the men with Bejar on her last night alive, Nov. 15, at restaurants and bars in Rohnert Park, Cotati and outside Santa Rosa in the hopes that someone might recognize them.

Capt. Doug Pike said sheriff’s officials were revealing these details more than two months after Bejar died because investigators have been unable to find the two men, who are unknown to Bejar’s friends and family.

“This is important to us, and this is important for her family,” Pike said, noting that the public’s help could spur the investigation forward.

The images show two men who appear to be Latino between the ages of 25 and 40, Pike said. One man is of medium build, stands between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-10 and has a goatee. The other man is heavier and shorter, as tall as 5-foot-7 with short dark hair.

Bejar was found in grave condition at about 4:45 a.m. Nov. 16 lying on a stretch of Highway 29 about five miles north of Calistoga. She was wearing only her underwear, a jacket and one leopard print heel. The other shoe and her purse were found nearby.

Authorities later determined she had been run over by a vehicle, suffering major injuries. She died while being flown by air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

In the weeks since Bejar died, detectives have been trying to piece together how she spent her final day and who may have been with her.

Bejar did not drive, adding to the mystery of how she ended up on a Napa County highway. Her friends told investigators she did not own a car and often traveled by bus.

On Nov. 15, Bejar left home at about 2 p.m. to go shopping at the Santa Rosa Plaza downtown, Pike said.

At 6 p.m., Bejar was captured on video at Quincy’s Pub and Café on Commerce Boulevard in Rohnert Park. She appeared to be alone.

Two hours later at 8 p.m., cameras filmed Bejar about a mile south on the boulevard at Mi Ranchito Mexican Restaurant in Cotati. It was there at the restaurant’s bar where she appears to have met up with the two men.

In one of two of the restaurant’s surveillance videos, Bejar is shown walking outside with the taller of the two men, shown with a goatee, while the other man stays at the bar. From another angle within the restaurant, the trio is shown leaving just before 10:30 p.m.

She is holding hands with the taller of the two men, who has a mustache and is wearing a button-down shirt tucked into slacks and light dress shoes or boots.

Bejar is wearing a dark asymmetrical one-shoulder shirt, fitted black pants, high heels, a collared coat and is carrying a large purse. Her hair is cropped short in an asymmetrical style and bleached blonde.

A bartender later told authorities that it appeared Bejar and the men met for the first time that night, Pike said. Bejar and the men were speaking with each other in Spanish.

The trio were next spotted at 11 p.m. walking into Casa del Mar Mexican Restaurant and Cantina on Stony Point Road near Todd Road on the southern outskirts of Santa Rosa.

Bejar and the men were seen dancing until they left at about 12:30 a.m., witnesses told detectives.

Pike declined to elaborate on how the detectives retraced Bejar’s steps.

Bejar was born in Spain and had been living in the United States for about 20 years, Pike said.

She lived and worked in Rohnert Park, where she helped care for people at a group home. She also lived in Oakland, according to a funeral notice. The notice also said she graduated from a University in Madrid with a master’s in physiology in 1984 and worked as a teacher, personal trainer and physical therapist in Europe before moving to the United States.

She has two half-sisters who live in Madrid.

Anyone with information about the case can call the Napa County Sheriff’s Office investigation bureau at 253-4591. Anonymous tips can be left with Napa Valley Crime Stoppers online at www.napavalleycrimestoppers.com, by phone at 800-450-9543. People may also text tips to 274637 by typing NVCS at the beginning of the tip.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.