Authorities seek 3 persons of interest in Marin County trail killing

FAIRFAX - Detectives say they are looking for three persons of interest in the killing of a Lake County man on a North Bay hiking trail.

The body of Steve Carter, 67, of Middletown was found by a hiker at 6 p.m. Monday along a scenic trail east of Fairfax, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office said.

Sheriff’s investigators Tuesday evening released surveillance video that shows two of the three people they want to question in Carter’s shooting death.

The surveillance footage taken from a convenience store in Fairfax shows a long-haired man wearing a black hat and a woman with dirty-blond hair wearing dark clothing.

Carter was a well-known Tantra and yoga teacher and massage therapist who founded the Ecstatic Living Institute in Middletown with his wife and co-teacher, Lokita, said Logan Rose, director of the institute.

He was found still holding the leash of a Doberman pinscher believed to be his dog, Lt. Doug Pittman said. The dog also was shot, but it survived and was turned over to the Marin Humane Society, Pittman said.

Michael Carter of Fresno confirmed that his brother, Steve, was the victim.

“I’ve heard that he was murdered, but I haven’t heard anything other than that,” Michael Carter said.

Carter said that he knew of no one who disliked his brother. “I can’t imagine that it’s anything other than a random thing. All of it seems very random and unbelievable. Nothing makes any sense.”

The Carters, who founded the institute in 1999, led several dozen workshops a year, reaching nearly 20,000 participants in California, Oregon, New York, British Columbia and Costa Rica, Rose said.

The couple released DVDs on Tantric massage, yoga for lovers and meditation. They also taught classes at Harbin Hot Springs, a clothing-optional retreat that burned down last month in Lake County’s devastating Valley fire.

“Steve and Lokita Carter devoted their lives to helping people connect their hearts to the sexuality,” Rose said.

“That’s what their life is about, to remove the taboo around sexuality and weave it beautifully into the human existence,” he said.

The Carters recently had led retreats for couples in Costa Rica, he said. The couple had come to Marin County so Lokita Carter could undergo treatment for breast cancer.

“It has been a very traumatic season for us, with Lokita’s cancer, then the Valley fire that destroyed our beloved Harbin Hot Springs, where we offered the majority of our workshops,” Rose said. “This is the most devastating blow. We are heartbroken.”

The victim is believed to have driven to the trail near Fairfax in his silver 2003 Volkswagen Jetta station wagon, Pittman said. The car was missing and believed to have been stolen by the killer or killers.

Anyone who spots the car should treat the occupants as armed and dangerous, Pittman said.