Two suspects arrested in Mendocino County on robbery charge after home invasion

Two people are in custody and authorities are searching for three others after a home invasion turned into a kidnapping and a puppy murder, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.

Lt. Shannon Barney said Rigoberto Santos Landa, 40, and Katherina Andrea Speer, 43, both of Ukiah, were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of conspiracy to commit robbery. Landa and Speer were booked into Mendocino County Jail on bail of $50,000 each.

Three other men are still on the loose, authorities said. Those men are described as black males in their 30s with athletic builds, short hair and Jamaican accents.

The incident began Tuesday afternoon when an unnamed male victim and two of his neighbors were at the victim’s home on the 9200 block of Spy Rock Road outside of Laytonville. They heard a gunshot and the man saw two people standing on his lawn, later identified as Landa and Speer, Barney said.

The man exited his house and he and his neighbors were confronted by three black males with handguns.

One of the neighbors had a puppy at the residence, and one of the men shot and killed it, Barney said. “The one guy shoots the puppy, and the victim took it as a ‘If you do not comply, this will happen to you,’” he said.

The suspects then allegedly tied up all three victims and searched the residence, finding about 100 pounds of marijuana, Barney said.

He said he wasn’t sure if the victim had a permit to grow marijuana, but the investigation was focusing on the home invasion and not on the victim’s possession of marijuana.

After taking the marijuana, the three men took the homeowner with them, saying they needed him to show them how to get back to the highway, Barney said. They left Landa and Speer at the house with the other two victims still tied up, Barney said.

Within 2 miles of the victim’s house, the suspects crashed their car, flipping it onto its side, Barney said. They attempted to roll it back over but were unable to. They then attempted to carjack a passing pickup truck, firing three shots at the truck as it sped away. The pickup truck also crashed, and the three occupants are believed to have escaped on foot.

The three men then carjacked a second passing vehicle, a white Ford Explorer with a Confederate flag on the hood.

They apparently escaped in the stolen vehicle, leaving its occupants, two adult females, behind.

Meanwhile, the two victims left at the house managed to escape, and overpowered Landa and Speer, restraining them and taking them to the Sheriff’s Office, Barney said.

Sheriff’s investigators do not know what relationship Landa and Speer have to the other three men at large, but it is believed they were working together, Barney said.

“The Hispanic couple (Landa and Speer), when the deputies contacted them, were completely uncooperative. They wouldn’t say anything to us,” Barney said. “Invoked their rights to an attorney and didn’t give us a statement. ... Without somebody’s cooperation, it’s hard to tell what happened.”

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Communications Center at 707-463-4086 or the WeTip anonymous crime reporting line at 800-782-7463.

You can reach Staff Writer Andrew Beale at 707-521-5205 or andrew.beale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @iambeale.