3 Sonoma County men arrested in murder of Cloverdale man missing since June

Three Sonoma County men have been arrested in the slaying of a Cloverdale man who had been missing since late June, when authorities said he was kidnapped and shot to death in a remote area east of Healdsburg before being buried in a marijuana garden west of the city.

The victim, Jose Martinez, 46, and one of the suspects, Socorro Sierra, 34, of Healdsburg, were involved in “significant marijuana dealings” that had soured in a dispute over a business transaction, and Sierra had threatened Martinez, the Sheriff’s Office said Thursday in a written statement.

His body was unearthed Wednesday by detectives from a hole dug by two of the suspects with a rented backhoe at a marijuana garden on West Dry Creek Road, Sgt. Spencer Crum said in the statement.

Crum’s report described the latest outbreak of deadly pot-related violence in Sonoma County, where a string of home-invasion robberies earlier this year resulted in the shooting death of one man and wounding of another.

Martinez was last seen by his family as he went to bed around midnight on June 29. His daughter believed he left on a fishing trip the next morning in his white 2017 Toyota Tacoma. She reported him missing to Cloverdale police when he didn’t return for work the following Monday.

But detectives now believe Martinez was abducted later that morning, about 8 a.m., from the front of Ray’s Food Place, a Cloverdale grocery, and taken by Sierra and two other men in a dark sedan to the top of Geysers Road, near The Geysers geothermal area dividing Sonoma and Lake counties. There, Sierra walked Martinez into a creek drainage and shot him to death with a handgun before rejoining the other two men and driving them to Santa Rosa, sheriff’s officials said.

The other two suspects were identified as Felix Fernando Carreon, 43, of Santa Rosa and Climmie Smith-Hill, 30, of Santa Rosa.

The next day, a Saturday, Sierra returned to the creek, wrapped Martinez’s body in a tarp and took it to a marijuana garden in the 2100 block of West Dry Creek Road, sheriff’s officials said. There, with the help of Carreon, the men dug a 5- to 6-foot hole with a backhoe and buried Martinez’s body, the Sheriff Office said.

Of the recent bouts of pot-related violence in the county, most of the incidents have involved suspects with ties to the East Coast, where the Sheriff’s Office believes they are seeking to take advantage of the black market for California-grown marijuana.

But Martinez’s murder appears to have followed from a local dispute, based on the limited information released Thursday by the Sheriff’s Office.

His body was recovered Wednesday by detectives following a break in their investigation, which was launched by Cloverdale police on July 2, when he was reported missing by his family.

Cloverdale police put out a missing person alert on July 5, providing a description of Martinez and his truck. His reported disappearance was covered in both The Press Democrat and the Cloverdale Reveille.

At the time, Cloverdale police said foul play was not suspected.

But on Tuesday, a sheriff’s deputy found a Toyota Tacoma matching the description of Martinez’s truck parked in a Santa Rosa neighborhood just east of Piner High School, according to authorities. The license plates had been swapped out for temporary paper dealer plates, but the truck was later confirmed as Martinez’s through its VIN number, giving detectives a new lead as to how it ended up parked on Masterson Court and Holiday Street.

Interviews of family members and friends of Martinez had by that point alerted authorities that his disappearance was likely more than a routine missing person case, sheriff’s officials said. They pointed to his marijuana dealings and the business dispute with Sierra that had escalated to threats,.

Interviews with witnesses and other work by detectives eventually led to the three suspects, the Sheriff’s Office said. Witnesses placed Martinez at Ray’s Food Place, where he was kidnapped, according to authorities, but they did not elaborate further on how the suspects were identified or how detectives had pieced together the timeline of the execution and disposal of Martinez’s body.

Crum, a sheriff’s spokesman, did not respond to a call and follow-up email Thursday evening for additional comment. Sheriff’s officials said an autopsy was pending.

Family members and others who knew Martinez could not be reached Thursday night.

Sierra was arrested Tuesday afternoon in Santa Rosa, and the Sheriff’s Office said a handgun detectives suspect was used in the murder was found in his vehicle. Smith-Hill was arrested early Wednesday morning after an interview at the Sheriff’s Office. Carreon was arrested on July 10 in Santa Rosa on unrelated drug charges. All were being held at the Sonoma County Jail without bail.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin Fixler at 707-521-5336 or at kevin.fixler@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @kfixler.