The Sacramento County Coroner's office today released the name of the man shot to death during a struggle in Foothill Farms last night.

He was identified as Mario Jose Rodriguez, 36, of Roseville.

Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies said that they responded to a call about 11:45 p.m. Sunday regarding a man who had been shot at an apartment in the 3900 block of Madison Avenue. The caller said that a casual acquaintance of his had been shot inside his apartment and that two men had fled.

By Whitney Mountain
wmountain@sacbee.com

A 7-year-old boy who saw his father overcome by a fatal fire and explosion in a rice field south of Colusa ran two miles for help on Saturday, the Colusa County Sheriff's Office reported.

Authorities said 43-year-old Roberto Ayala of Grimes apparently was turning on an irrigation pump at an electrical switch midday Saturday when the blast occurred in the field between Wescott and Abel roads in Colusa County.

Ayala's son was muddy and had scratches when he arrived about 1:20 p.m. at a neighboring home, where he reported that his dad was on fire in the field, said Sheriff's Lt. Shane Maxey. The neighbors called authorities.

By Debbie Arrington
darrington@sacbee.com

Call it the case of the naked gun woman.

At a Super 8 motel in Vacaville, a night clerk convinced a nude woman brandishing a handgun to surrender to police early Sunday morning.

Patricia Wright, 32, of Fairfield, was arrested by Vacaville police at about 3 a.m. following a 20-minute standoff, officials said.

According to police, Wright entered the motel's lobby around 2:40 a.m. Sunday wearing no clothes but waving a gun. The female desk clerk called 911, then tried to calm Wright, who was staying at the motel with a male companion.

By Carlos Alcala
calcala@sacbee.com

A man trying to steal a surveillance camera came up empty-handed early today, when he fell off the roof, according to the Sacramento Police Department activity log.

Police responded to a call around 2 a.m. from an Alhambra Boulevard resident who heard someone on the roof, and then heard the invader fall.

The suspect apparently fell 15 feet off the roof.

The surveillance camera was found on the ground near the suspect, whose leg was injured in the fall.

The victim declined to press charges, feeling that the leg injury was adequate punishment.

Despite 42 officers out the door of the Sacramento Police Department, most residents likely won't notice a big difference right away: There are the same number of black-and-whites patrolling the streets today as there were last week.

Where the difference is most likely to be felt, officials say, is in the wake of a crime.

"For the most part, you won't notice any difference in the streets," said police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong. "However, what you'll notice primarily is (the difference in) what we follow up on."

This week, 42 police officers and 66 non-sworn employees - such as forensic investigators and community service officers - turned in their badges and equipment. As a result, significant changes in police services are effective today, the start of the fiscal year.

By Hudson Sangree
hsangree@sacbee.com

A 4-year-old Rosemont girl was struck and killed by her neighbor driving a pickup truck Thursday night, authorities said.

She was pronounced dead at UC Davis Medical Center, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said.

"It was a tragic incident for everybody," said CHP Officer Adrian Quintero. "It was one of those crashes we hope we never have to go to."

By Matt Kawahara
mkawahara@sacbee.com

A drug deal gone bad Monday led to the shooting of a man in a McDonald's parking lot in Citrus Heights, police said.

Citrus Heights police received a call of shots fired outside the McDonald's at Sunrise Boulevard and Old Auburn Road at about 6:10 p.m., said Officer Bryan Fritsch. Responding officers found a male victim shot in the shoulder in the parking lot, he said.

The man was transported to a local hospital and was in stable condition late Monday night, police reported.

A man was killed when his backhoe tractor tipped over on him Sunday in Redding.

Joshua Tait Cox, 25, of Redding died when the backhoe tractor tipped over on him when he was excavating dirt on his family's property in the 900 block of Canyon Creek Road. Police dispatched to the scene about 8:30 p.m. discovered that Cox had been thrown from the operator's seat on the tractor and pinned under the canopy.

Cox had been digging in a pile of loose dirt, and the soil collapsed under the weight of the backhoe, causing the tractor to tip.

A family member found Cox and called 911. Cox died at the scene.

A 78-year-old man who may have been trapped while working under his motor home in Citrus Heights has died of his injuries, the Citrus Heights Police Department reported today.

Sgt. Janet Schaefer of the department reported that the man, identified as Louis Robert Jamet, was pronounced dead at Mercy San Juan Hospital Saturday after he was found lying unconscious in the street at the 6800 block of Le Mans Avenue in Citrus Heights.

The Sacramento County Coroner's office put the time of death as 5:30 p.m., about 40 minutes after Citrus Heights Police and the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire Department responded.

Initial reports indicated that Jamet had been working under his motor home just before he was found.

A 9-year-old boy pulled from a Rancho Cordova pool unconscious and not breathing Friday evening was resuscitated by emergency medical crews and showing some signs of improvement several hours later, a Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District spokesman reported.

Sac Metro Fire crews responded at about 5:15 p.m. Friday to reports of the unresponsive boy at a residential pool in the 11000 block of Pyrites Way, and immediately began life-saving procedures, said fire district spokesman Assistant Chief Scott Cockrum.

The boy was transported to a local hospital, where he was breathing and had a pulse at about 7:30 p.m., Cockrum reported.

It appeared the boy was observed unresponsive in the pool by others at the residence, who pulled him out and called authorities, Cockrum said.

CORRECTION: The fire district originally reported that the boy was 11 years old.

By Matt Kawahara
mkawahara@sacbee.com

A man in his 20s was shot during a robbery late Thursday in south Sacramento.

The victim was walking with a friend in the area of Mack Road and Center Parkway at about 10 p.m. when they were approached by at least three and as many as five black juveniles who attempted to rob them.

By Matt Kawahara and Carlos Alcala
mkawahara@sacbee.com

Galt Police Department officers fatally shot a 25-year-old man Friday after the man allegedly threatened to kill officers who had responded to a report that he was assaulting his mother, the police department reported.

Officers responded just after 5:20 p.m. Friday to a residence in the 100 block of Franston Street after a man called in stating his wife was being assaulted by her adult son, who was armed with a knife, according to a Galt Police Department release.

Upon arriving, officers met the 25-year-old son in front of the house, where he became verbally aggressive and made threats that he would kill them, the release states.

A man was found stabbed to death along the American River Parkway late last night, Sacramento police said.

The man, only described as being in his 30s, was found in an area frequented by the homeless near Northgate Boulevard and Del Paso Boulevard. Reports came into the police department about 11:20 p.m. about some kind of noisy disturbance in the wooded area, police said.

A police sergeant who happened to be patrolling nearby, quickly responded to the scene but it was too late. The man, who has not been identified, died from at least one stab wound.

By Matt Kawahara
mkawahara@sacbee.com

A large oak tree fell onto two houses on Clunie Drive near American River Drive early this afternoon, causing major damage to both structures, a Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District spokesman said.

Battalion Chief Patrick Ellis said he had been told the tree was the second-oldest oak in California.

Fire crews responded at about 12:20 p.m. Wednesday to the 100 block of Clunie Drive and found the fallen oak had caused a total collapse of the garage of one house and a partial collapse of one room in the adjacent house, Ellis said.

Large debris from the tree was scattered in a nearly 200-foot radius, he said.

No injuries have been reported. Ellis said neighbors living up to six blocks away reported hearing the tree fall.

Q: I heard that Donald Cronk is out of prison for his murder of James Milton Allen back in the early '80s. Is that true? - Pher, Sacramento

A: Yes. Cronk, now 54, is no longer in prison. He was granted a parole in 2007, records show.

He was serving a sentence of 27 years to life for Dec. 19, 1980, murder of Allen, 50, a Carmichael coin dealer.

Cronk and another man, Glenn Meyer, pleaded guilty to killing Allen.

The suspicious package that Sacramento County sheriff's deputies responded to in Arden Arcade this morning turned out to be a creatively decorated lighted gift box.

The suspicious object was described as a 8-inch-by-8-inch, glass brick-shaped package with wires and plugs attached. The suspicious object was near a car in the 3600 block of Marconi Avenue.

Further investigation revealed it was not a danger. A woman who works in a nearby building wraps boxes in a clear wrapping with lights inside.

Q: In 2003, Kathy Delaurentis of Galt was found guilty of vehicular manslaughter while driving drunk. Is she still in prison? - Anonymous, Galt

A: Yes. Delaurentis, 51, is serving an 11-year, eight-month sentence at Valley State Prison for Women, Chowchilla, records show.

DeLaurentis of Galt pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence causing great bodily injury in the death of 17-year-old Adam Williams, also of Galt, on April 21, 2003, The Bee reported.

A second-degree murder charge was dropped in a plea agreement.

Q: What happened to the guy who raped several women in Sacramento, was paroled and then killed two men at a bar? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Charles Edward Case, now 70, is on death row for killing the 1993 Father's Day murder and robbery of Val Lorraine Manuel, 71, and Gary Duane Tudor, 39, who were shot to death in a bar at Bradshaw Road and Jackson Highway.

Case, left, also was earlier convicted of sexually assaulting five women in Sacramento County over a two-month period in 1978. He was nicknamed the "Midday Rapist" from his habit of stalking women at their shops during the day, then attacking them.

He threatened to kill several of his rape victims.

He was sentenced to 33 years in prison in 1979, but was paroled in 1991.

Redding police said they suspect a husband of threatening to kill his teenage son last night with a baseball bat and peppering the floor with gunshots near at his wife's feet when she wouldn't make him dinner.

Steve Florreich, 43, of Redding, was booked into Shasta County Jail for suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, assault with a firearm, negligent discharge of a firearm, terrorist threats, spousal assault and brandishing a firearm.

A press release from the department said that officers were told that Florreich had been drinking beer before they were called to the family's trailer in the 2200 block of Concord Lane. His wife and son said Florriech became angry when his spouse would not cook him dinner.

Q: A man tried to kill two Sacramento County deputies about 12 years ago after he tried to kill two CHP officers in the '60s. Is he still alive? - Dave, Sacramento

A: Yes. Robert Earl Olmsted, now 60, is serving 36 years plus 195 years to life at Pleasant Valley State Prison, Coalinga, records show. (Bee staff photo of Olmsted at left is from a 1998 court proceeding.)

The sentence was designed so Olmsted would never get out of prison, The Bee reported. He must serve the 36-year sentence before starting the 195 to life.

A neighborhood battle with bats and sticks sent a Redding man to the hospital today, police reported.

Redding officers responded to the 3700 block of Churn Creek Road at 12:43 a.m. after receiving reports of numerous people fighting.

Upon arrival, they heard additional reports of shots fired, but those were later found to be inaccurate.

Q: There was a murder several years back involving a young man and his infant son. Were the suspects ever arrested? - Shocked in Elk Grove

A: No suspects have been arrested in the Sept. 14, 2007 killing of 21-year-old Sean Aquitania and his infant son, Sean Jr. (Photos left).

Sacramento County sheriff's deputies suspect Aquitania interrupted a home-invasion robbery on Country Greens Court in southeastern Sacramento County, The Bee reported.

Q: What happened to Sacramento resident Phyllis Robbins, a retired art teacher, who was tried for killing a woman? - Nellie, Sacramento

A: A Marin Superior Court judge sentenced Phyllis Yvonne Robbins, a retired American River College art teacher, to 11 years in prison in June 1996 for murdering her partner's lover, The Bee reported.

Robbins is no longer in prison, records show. Records also indicate she died in 2008.

At her sentencing, Robbins, then 68, told the judge that she didn't intend to kill Barbara Wilson, 71. "I would do anything to correct it, but I can't. I'm just sorry," Robbins said.

Dispatchers with the Citrus Heights and Elk Grove police departments, along with two quick-thinking youths they assisted in emergencies, will be recognized Thursday at the state Capitol as recipients of the California State 9-1-1 Heroes Awards.

They will be honored by lifestyle designer Kathy Ireland, the 9-1-1 for Kids international ambassador.

The awards program is intended to make the public aware of the exemplary efforts by dispatchers and youths in handling emergencies.

Q: In the mid-1980s, a college friend of mine, Erasmo Flores, went missing in Sacramento and was later found murdered. What happened in this case? - Anonymous Sacramento

A: Two men are serving long sentences for the 1982 murder of kidnap, robbery and murder of Flores, 22, a student at California State University, Sacramento, Bee reports and records show.

Dionisio Lewis Rendon Jr. is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Rendon, now 56, is incarcerated at the California State Prison, Los Angeles County.

Q: Where is the "Thrill Killer" who killed six people in Sacramento? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Eric Royce Leonard, now 41, is on death row at San Quentin State Prison. (Bee staff photo at left is of Leonard at his 1992 trial.)

Leonard's crime spree began on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 1991, when he went to a convenience story on Auburn Boulevard near Watt Avenue and gunned down store clerks Zeid Ahmad Obeid, 20, and Stephen Mark Anderson, 35, with a .25-caliber pistol.

After walking out of the market, Leonard saw Thor Johnson Sr., 42, walk into the store and decided to kill him, too, so he wouldn't call the police, evidence showed.

Exactly a week later Leonard struck again in the same area.

The Sacramento Sheriff's Department identified Marvin Barksdale, 22, as the gunman accused of leading the California Highway Patrol on a chase Friday, before holing up in an audio business.

Barksdale is a validated gang member, officials said.

The Sheriff's Department responded at 5:24 p.m. Friday to aid the CHP with a pursuit.

Sacramento police reported that a man got stuck up to his thighs in river mud and had to be rescued last night.

Sacramento Fire Department firefighters were the first to respond to the banks of the Sacramento River near Interstate 5 and Sutterville Road.

They found a 20-year-old man stuck mid-thigh in mud.

David Corado's place of birth could accurately read: bus stop, Pioneer Trail at Aspenwald Street, South Lake Tahoe.

That's where he was born early Wednesday morning as his parents waited for a cab. He was born without a doctor's assistance, but with the help of South Lake Tahoe police dispatchers.

David's mother, Maria Ortiz-Corado, about nine months pregnant, with 10 days until her baby boy was expected to be born, was enjoying a quiet evening at home late Tuesday. Then she went into labor. (Photo at left of mother and baby is courtesy of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department.)

Q: Two young men were killed at party in Wilton about a year ago. Has anyone been arrested? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: There have been no arrests in the slayings of 19-year-old Christopher Valdes and 18-year-old Marlon Aguilar Morales on March 20, 2010.

Valdes and Morales were gunned down early that morning as they left a party in Wilton. They were friends.

Sacramento County Sheriff's Department detectives said the pair had gone to a party at a friend's barn on rural Rising Road. About 50 to 60 people were in attendance, and most knew each other, The Bee reported.

Firefighters and sheriff's department personnel have determined the suspicious container found on the side of a road in north Sacramento near Elverta Road was not hazardous, a Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District spokesman said.

Sac Metro Fire and Sacramento County Sheriff's Department personnel had responded Thursday afternoon to Cherry Brook Drive and Stetson Court, where a taped-shut Styrofoam ice chest was sitting along the road for an unknown reason, said Sac Metro Fire spokesman Assistant Chief Scott Cockrum.

A team from the Sheriff's Department Explosive Ordinance Bureau X-rayed the ice chest and determined it was not an explosive hazard, Cockrum said. A hazmat team then opened the chest and found no hazardous materials inside, he said.

Law enforcement personnel have cleared the scene.

Q: John Edwin Donstead was arrested on May 14, 2007 for stabbing a gas station clerk. What happened to that case? - Jack57, Sacramento

A: Donstead, now 31, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter on May 7, 2008 in the homicide of Joseph Griggs, records show.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Donstead to seven years. Donstead is serving time at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Mississippi.

Q: What happened to the kid that killed Juvenile Hall counselor Julius D. Micheletti during an escape attempt? - RR, Sacramento

A: John Brekke, then 18, was convicted of second-degree murder in the Aug. 20, 1965 death of Micheletti.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Brekke to five years to life in prison.

Brekke is no longer in prison, records show. He may have died in 2002 death at age 55, but death records available to The Bee are not definitive.

Q: What happened in the case of 14-year-old Marvin Keola who was shot to death in his girlfriend's house? - Sacbeereader, Sacramento and Anonymous, Meadowview

A: In December 1980, a Sacramento Superior Court jury acquitted Hazam and Marie Yahya of murder charges in Keola's death, The Bee reported.

The couple's 14-year-old son was convicted of second-degree murder in the June 17, 1980 slaying of Keola, who also was 14.

By Hudson Sangree
hsangree@sacbee.com

Woodland Police responded to a report of shots fired late Saturday and arrested a suspect who fled on foot.

There were no injuries and no reports of property damage, police said today.

Officers were dispatched at about 10:15 p.m. Saturday to a report of gunshots in the area of Johnson and Alice streets, a few blocks from the downtown police station, police said.

Q: On Dec. 5, 2009 a dead body was found in Folsom at Blue Ravine Road and East Natoma Street. What was the outcome of the investigation? - Kevin Kiersey, Folsom

A: The Sacramento Coroner's Office determined that the death of Earl Barrett, 44, of Folsom, was accidental, a Folsom police department spokesman told The Bee. The coroner listed cause of death the result of "acute methamphetamine intoxication" which aggravated existing medical conditions, police said.

Detectives initially investigated the death of the decayed body as suspicious, but early on said there were no signs of foul play, The Bee reported.

The body was found by three boys riding bicycles found the body in a wooded area, which concealed it from casual view.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q: Doug Leeper was murdered in midtown in the late '80s or early '90s. What happened in the case? - Anson, Sacramento

A: Dale Leroy Hutton, now 39, is serving 15 years to life plus seven years for Leeper's murder, Bee reports and records show.

Hutton stabbed to death Douglas Leeper, 31, in Leeper's Sacramento apartment on March 7, 1993. Hutton also stole drugs from Leeper.

Q: My friend Linza Johnson was murdered by her husband approximately nine years ago. Is he still in prison and will he ever be released? - Bev, Sacramento

A: George Edward Johnson Sr., now 69, is in prison, serving 78 years to life for killing Johnson on Dec. 12, 1996, Bee reports and records show.

He could become eligible for parole in about 20 years. He is incarcerated at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville.

Q: What happened in the road-rage case involving Pat Walsh of KFBK? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Two men were charged with misdemeanor battery in the alleged road-rage attack last year on KFBK sportscaster Pat Walsh, according to the Placer County District Attorney's Office.

John Patrick O'Neill, 52, and his son, Cory Taylor O'Neill, 23, both of Newcastle, face a May 2 trial, court records show.

An unidentified man was shot in the arm during a conflict at 40th Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard in south Sacramento shortly before 2 p.m. today, Sacramento County Sheriff's officials said.

Sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos said a man reported to be the shooter was then severely beaten by other people at the scene.

Both men were taken to area hospitals.

Q: Has anyone been caught in the slaying 18-year-old Emanuel Michel a couple of years ago? - E.M. and LisaLisa

A: The slaying is unsolved. A $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Michel's killer or killers is outstanding.

Michel, left, was gunned down the morning of Oct. 18, 2008 at a home in the 2100 block of 57th Avenue in Sacramento, The Bee reported.

He had gathered with friends, according to Sacramento police, when a group of uninvited people showed up.

After being asked to leave, the uninvited group fired gunshots at the house as they fled.

Police have said that the uninvited group shouted gang affiliations, though detectives do not believe Michel or his friends had gang ties.

Anyone with information about Michel's killing is asked to call Crime Alert at (916) 443-HELP.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q: Have there been any developments in the disappearance of that Sacramento restaurant owner about 12 years ago? Anonymous, Sacramento

A: No developments have been reported in the disappearance of Henry Moreno.

In August 1998, Henry Moreno, 46, was on the brink of opening his dream restaurant on the Sacramento River. He was seen at Home Depot on Aug. 6, and at a local cafe he frequented. Then he vanished, The Bee reported.

His disappearance is a mystery in every sense of the word. There have been no bank account or credit card charges, no cell phone activity. His car, a 1997 white Nissan Pathfinder with a California license plate of 3VLP084, has never been found.

His restaurant was foreclosed on and sold.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

By Matt Kawahara
mkawahara@sacbee.com

Four people were shot late Wednesday in a south Sacramento neighborhood, according to the Sacramento Police Department.

Police responded about 10:30 p.m. to a call of multiple shooting victims in the 7700 block of 51st Avenue.

The four male victims -- in their late teens and early 20s -- were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Sacramento police Sgt. Norm Leong said.

Q: Will the murderer of the two CHP officers for whom a stretch of Interstate 80 east of West Sacramento was named ever be paroled? What became of the girlfriend who testified against him? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Luis V. Rodriguez Jr., now 55, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole after being convicted for the 1978 murders, according to Bee reports and records.

His companion, Margaret Klaess, served two years in prison under a plea agreement for aiding and abetting Rodriguez. She testified against him, The Bee reported.

The El Dorado Sheriff's office is looking for a man in his late 50s or early 60s suspected of robbing a bank in Cameron Park Monday.

Deputies responded to the Umpqua Bank and interviewed emotional employees, who told them the robber entered, told a teller, "You're being robbed," and brandished a small black semi-automatic handgun.

After showing the gun, he tucked the weapon in his waistband, according to a release from the Sheriff's Office.

Q: Several years ago a man died in an altercation having to do with a road rage incident at Arco Arena after a Kings game. Was anyone ever arrested in this case and if so what was the outcome? - mkline2408, Roseville

A: Mark Leidheisl died after a fight following a Sacramento Kings game on April 20, 2005, but the Sacramento County District Attorney declined to file charges against the two men he fought, The Bee reported.

Prosecutors said Leidheisl, 39, was drunk and possibly under the influence of opiates,

Leidheisl, a bank senior vice president, first attacked one man and then another before being punched in the face, according to the statement from Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully. That blow sent him to the pavement, where his head slammed against the asphalt. He died two days later of a severe brain injury.

By Matt Kawahara
mkawahara@sacbee.com

One man died and his older brother was taken to the hospital following a shooting this afternoon in a small shopping center at Northgate Boulevard and San Juan Road in south Natomas, according to Sacramento police.

Police responded about 4:45 p.m. and found two men -- a 20 year old and his 19-year-old brother shot at the strip center

The 19-year-old man man was pronounced dead at the scene, while his 20-year-old brother was taken to a local hospital. The extent of his injuries was unknown at 6 p.m.

Q: A relative of mine, Kathleen Neff, disappeared in 1980 and her body was found later in Sacramento County? Was anyone ever arrested? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: No one has been arrested in her homicide, according to The Bee archives and available records. (At left is photo of Neff released by her family in 1980.)

Neff, 21, disappeared after dropping her car off for service at a dealership on Florin Road near Franklin Boulevard on Oct. 16, 1980, The Bee reported.

Pheasant hunters found her body was found almost a month later in a drainage ditch off Elliott Ranch Road, approximately six miles south of the dealership. The badly decomposed body was clad only in a pair of socks.

By Kim Minugh
kminugh@sacbee.com

An Elk Grove police officer suffered an injury to his leg tonight after he was struck by a car - possibly driven by an intoxicated driver - while conducting a traffic stop, according to authorities.

The injuries are not life-threatening and appear to involve a broken leg or ankle, said police spokesman Officer Chris Trim. The officer, whose name was not released, is being treated at an area hospital.

The collision occurred about 9:40 p.m. today, after two officers assigned to traffic enforcement pulled over a vehicle on Big Horn Boulevard just east of Bruceville Road, Trim said.

By Matt Kawahara
mkawahara@sacbee.com

Two Sacramento teens have been arrested after they allegedly stole an Elk Grove man's car and led police on a chase that reached speeds of 100 mph, according to an Elk Grove Police Department release.

Officers responded to the area of Grisham Way and West Stockton Boulevard at 12:44 p.m. Thursday, regarding a carjacking, according to the release.

The victim, a 21-year-old Elk Grove man, told police he was trying to sell his 1997 Buick on Craigslist, and had agreed to meet with a potential buyer at the WinCo Foods on Sheldon Road, according to the release.

Upon meeting the buyer -- later identified as Romalas Ross, 19, of Sacramento -- the victim allowed him to test-drive the vehicle.

With the car's owner in the front passenger seat, Ross drove down West Stockton Boulevard toward Grisham Way, and then stopped the vehicle, the release states. An unidentified male then approached the passenger's side of the vehicle armed with a shotgun, pointed it at the victim and ordered him out of the vehicle.

The armed suspect, later identified as a 17-year-old Sacramento resident, got into the front passenger seat and Ross drove away at a high rate of speed, the release states.

As Elk Grove police officers responded to the call, they were notified that a city of Elk Grove Code Enforcement officer was driving behind the stolen car onto northbound Highway 99 at Bond Road.

Officers caught up with the car and attempted to conduct an enforcement stop, but the driver did not yield and a pursuit ensued that reached speeds of up to 100 mph.

When the stolen vehicle attempted to exit at Florin Road, it spun out of control and crossed over a lane of traffic before coming to a stop in a grassy area, the release states. The driver fled on foot and was taken into custody.

The suspect in the front passenger's seat remained there, was ordered out of the car and was taken into custody without incident, the release states.

Officers searched the vehicle and found a loaded shotgun, which was later determined to be stolen, according to the release.

Ross was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail, while the 17-year-old was transported to Sacramento County Juvenile Hall.

Ross was booked on suspicion of felony carjacking, receiving stolen property and conspiracy, and his bail has been set at $110,000.

The stolen vehicle was returned to the victim.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sacramento Metro firefighters assist the coroner as they look at the victims of a fatal fire in Stephen Drive. Andy Alfaro, Sacramento Bee.

By Matt Kawahara
@mkawahara@sacbee.com

A house fire in North Highlands left two members of a five-person household dead Wednesday night.

The victims were believed to be a female adult and male juvenile -- possibly a mother and her child, said Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District Assistant Chief Scott Cockrum. Their identities were not immediately available.

Fire crews responded to the residence at 4061 block of Stephen Drive just before 8 p.m., and found the garage fully engulfed by flames, said Sac Metro Deputy Chief Brian Rice.

By Cathy Locke
clocke@sacbee.com

Woodland police have arrested a man in connection with a Feb. 19 assault outside a local pharmacy.

Surinder Singh, 34, of Woodland was arrested today on suspicion of assault with intent to commit rape, according to a police department news release.

Officers were dispatched at 2:47 p.m. Feb. 19 to the CVS Pharmacy at 7 W. Main St. for a report of an attempted kidnapping.

By Matt Kawahara
mkawahara@sacbee.com

A Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District firefighter was hospitalized Thursday afternoon after he fell down a flight of stairs fighting a house fire in Sacramento's Arden-Arcade neighborhood, a fire district spokesman said.

Fire crews responded to the 1800 block of Geneva Place at 4:33 p.m., and found flames coming from a two-story house, said Sac Metro spokesman Capt. Christian Pebbles.

The one-alarm fire, which reportedly began in an upstairs bedroom, caused significant damage to the house before firefighters got it under control, Pebbles said.

By Cathy Locke
clocke@sacbee.com

Sutter County Sheriff's officials today announced arrests in connection with a series of burglaries in south Sutter and Yolo counties.

Sheriff's deputies identified Tomas Quezada Sr., 48, and his son, Tomas Quezada Jr., as suspects in several of the burglaries.

The Yuba/Sutter Narcotic and Gang Enforcement Team, NET-5, also had been investigating Tomas Quezada Sr. for possible involvement in distributing methamphetamine in the two counties, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

By Bill Enfield

benfield@sacbee.com

Q: What happened in the murder of Rebecca Layson in Van Maren Park? - LadyRose, Sacramento

A: Tyler Espinoza, 18, and Anton "Tony" Adolf Johnson, 19, are charged with first-degree murder and acting in concert in Layson's slaying last year, according to a spokeswoman for the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office.

Johnson also faces two charges of burglary of an occupied structure. The burglary charges are not related to the case, as an earlier version of this story erroneously stated.

Espinoza was 17 at the time of the slaying, but is being tried as an adult.

By Matt Kawahara
mkawahara@sacbee.com

Elk Grove police are investigating a shooting incident that occurred Wednesday night when an occupant of one vehicle fired several rounds at another vehicle on Bruceville Road, a police spokesman said.

Police received a report at 9:15 p.m. Wednesday of a shooting at Bruceville Road and Big Horn Boulevard, said Elk Grove police spokesman Officer Chris Trim.

Responding officers determined that the victim had been driving southbound on Bruceville Road when a light-colored vehicle pulled alongside and an occupant of that vehicle fired several rounds at the victim's car, Trim said.

By Matt Kawahara
mkawahara@sacbee.com

Davis police are warning drivers about recent catalytic converter thefts from vehicles.

There were 20 reported thefts of catalytic converters in Davis between Feb. 26 and March 28, according to a Davis Police Department news release Wednesday. Most of the thefts occurred in the western part of the city, slightly east of Highway 113.

Thieves are targeting Toyota pickups and utility vehicles, and are primarily striking during the late night to early morning hours, according to the release.

Q: Where are high profile convicted killers Ray Carruth and Phil Specter housed, and how long are they there for? - SF, Sacramento

A: Rae Carruth, now 37, is serving an 18- to 24-year sentence at Nash Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison in North Carolina for his role in the murder of his pregnant girlfriend, according to the North Carolina Department of Correction. (The photo at left is a 2000 jail booking photo of Carruth.)

Carruth, a Sacramento native who attended Valley High School where he starred in football, was sentenced in January 2001 for conspiracy to commit murder, discharging a firearm into occupied property and using an instrument with intent to destroy an unborn child.

Cherica Adams died weeks after the November 1999 shooting.

The baby boy survived. A man who testified that Carruth, a former Carolina Panthers NFL team wide receiver, paid him $5,000 to kill Adams and the baby pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Q: A Sacramento County man killed his three kids in the '60s, was let off death row and then killed a woman. What happened to him? - RL, Sacramento.

A: On June 23, 1987, Robert Henry Nicolaus of Sacramento was sentenced to die for the first-degree murder of his ex-wife, Charlyce "Lisa" Robinson. It was the second time the psychotic killer had been condemned to die, The Bee reported.

The first was in 1964 for the murder of his three children - ages 2, 5 and 7 - who were shot in the trunk of his car in Sacramento County.

Nicolaus died of natural causes in prison at age 69, records show.

Q: I heard Paul Kovacich Jr., a former Placer County deputy sheriff who killed his wife, is being held in a minimum security prison. Is that true? - Anonymous, Placer County

A: No. Kovacich, now 61, is being held in medium security at Ironwood State Prison at Blythe, a State Corrections and Rehabilitation Department spokesman said. (Photo at left is a 2006 jail booking photo.)

Ironwood has minimum and medium security inmates, according to the prison's description on the corrections department's website, which may have caused the confusion.

Kovacich was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison in April 2009 for the 1982 murder of his wife, The Bee reported.

Q: Has anyone been arrested in the slaying of Line Withrow? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Line Withrow's 2006 homicide is unsolved. A $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer is still being offered.

Withrow, a 67-year-old retired occupational therapist, was returning from a shopping trip April 28, 2006. Just blocks from her home, a man stopped his car next to her and shouted at her.

Withrow couldn't understand what the driver said and stepped closer to the curb at 37th and P streets. The man demanded her purse, according to neighbors who talked to her after the attack.

Q: What is the status of Steven Reece Cochran, the man who kidnapped a 12-year-old Lodi girl in 1994? - Anonymous, Folsom.

A: Steven Cochran, now 42, is serving a 106-year-sentence. He is incarcerated at the Kern Valley State Prison at Delano, records show.

Cochran, a drifter and self-described alcoholic, broke into a Lodi home on July 2, 1994, after stalking the Lodi neighborhood and determining that three girls - ages 12, 13 and 16 - were alone in the house, The Bee reported. Their parents were out of town.

Q: Brett Harris murdered his mother and stepdad in their home in Parkway Estates. Police found him in a tree in the yard. Where he is now and is there any possibility that he would ever be paroled? - Former Parkway Pal, Sacramento

A: Bret Brooks Harris, now 49, is serving a 41-years-to-life sentence, records show. He is incarcerated at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga. He is eligible for parole, but at what date is not clear. (His first name in records is spelled Bret and Brett.)

Harris was arrested after police found the bloodied bodies of Barbara Harris Gisler, 55, and Robert Gisler, 52, in the bedroom of their J Parkway home in south Sacramento.

Q: James Swanson was arrested for stabbing me in 2005. What happened to him? - James Williams, Roseville

A: James Charles Swanson committed suicide in a state mental hospital in 2009 at age 31, according to the Placer County District Attorney's Office and death records.

Swanson was undergoing restoration of competence treatment after having been found incompetent to stand trial, the DA's office told The Bee. He was charged with attempted murder.

Q: What happened to Martin Jennings of Roseville? - BMF, Sacramento

A: A Placer Superior Court judge sentenced Martin F. Jennings III to spend seven years in prison on Jan. 28, 1994, for causing the drunken-driving death of a Rocklin man, the Placer County District Attorney's Office told The Bee and published reports show.

Jennings, then 22, of Granite Bay was convicted by a jury of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence in the death of Derrick Wasson, who was killed Nov. 22, 1991. The jury acquitted Jennings of a second-degree murder charge, The Bee reported.

Wasson was a passenger in a car that smashed into an oak tree at 80 mph on a Granite Bay road. Jennings, whose blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit, was the driver.

Q: In the late '80s, a guy went on a crime spree that ended when he killed a Sacramento Police Department technician. What happened to this killer? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Manuel Machado Alvarez, now 50, has been on death row since he was sentenced to death in 1989 for the murder of Allen Ray Birkman, 35, Bee reports and records show.

Birkman, who earned Boy Scout honors and a City Council commendation, worked at the Sacramento Police Department as an identification technician.

Alvarez stabbed Birkman to death on May 17, 1987, in a shopping center near Mack Road and Highway 99 after Birkman refused to turn over $60 he had just withdrawn from an ATM.

By Cathy Locke
clocke@sacbee.com

A Sacramento man died Thursday afternoon in a boating accident near Bodega Bay.

Sonoma County sheriff's officials said it appears that Manuel Silva Silveira, 65, was out crabbing when his 16-foot boat, a 1965 Atlas, lost power.

The Sheriff's Office marine and helicopter units, along with personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard, Bodega Bay Fire Department and California Highway Patrol responded to a report of an overturned boat between the Estero Americano and Doran Beach at 3:48 p.m.

By Bill Enfield
benfield@sacbee.com

In response to Bee readers' questions: A registered sexual offender from the Sacramento area apparently died in 2005, although he is still listed on several registries of sexual offenders. A serial stabber who struck in Sacramento in 2006 and 2008 and the killers of a Sacramento women have not been caught.

Q: What happened to John Arthur Malia? He was convicted of child molestation in the 1980s. - Mike, Sacramento

A: John Arthur Malia (photo at left is taken from the California Justice Department's registry of sexual offenders) apparently died on Dec. 22, 2005, a records search indicates. Death records, Malia's birthdate and other records concerning Malia match.

However, he is still listed on the several sexual offender registries as "incarcerated." Spokespeople for the registries did not return phone calls from The Bee.

Q: What happened to the woman who struck and killed Megan Smith June 14, 2007? - Anonymous, Elk Grove

A: Tamara Broadnax (left), now 32, pleaded guilty to hit-and-run in the death of Folsom teen Megan Smith, records show.

She also pleaded guilty in October 2009 to filing a false stolen vehicle report and driving on a suspended license. A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced her to four years in prison.

She is no longer in prison, records indicate.

Broadnax's boyfriend, Kenneth Peoples (below), pleaded guilty to being an accessory to hit-and-run on Nov. 26, 2009, according to court records and Bee reports.

A rapist who terrorized Citrus Heights in 1983 and 1984 is still in prison and a man who killed a Sacramento father after he came to the aid of son who was assaulted by gang members are among the recent answers posted to The Bee's Sacto 9-1-1 crime Q&A.

Q: What happened to the person who killed Juan Manuel Lira, who was trying to protect his family from a gang? - Anonymous, Roseville

A: Tuuaipea "Rocky" Mataafa, who shot and killed a Sacramento father who came to the aid of his teenage son after the boy was assaulted by gang members, was sentenced on June 4, 1994, in Sacramento Superior Court to 10 years in prison, The Bee reported.

Q: What happen to former Cordova High School football star Robert Rozier, who admitted killing for a cult in Miami and was later convicted of bouncing checks in El Dorado County? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Rozier, now 55, is serving a 25 years to life sentence in a California prison, records show. (Photo at left was taken in court in 1999.)

On Jan. 12, 2001, an El Dorado County judge sentenced Rozier, the former Miami cult executioner and protected federal witness, under California's "three strikes" law, concluding a strange bounced-check case, The Bee reported.

Rozier, a former Cordova High School and University of California, Berkeley football star, was arrested for passing bad checks nearly 13 years ago in a Cameron Park subdivision where he was living anonymously as Robert Rameses - his secret identity under the federal witness protection program.

Q: Years ago there was a scam where DUI records were destroyed at the Sacramento County courthouse. What happened to those involved? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: There have been two scandals involving altering or theft of DUI court records in Sacramento County separated by about 20 years. In both cases, people were sentenced to prison.

In the most recent case, DUI fixer Hector Whitley was sentenced Nov. 6, 2008, to six years in state prison for his role in a courthouse scam to dismiss cases on drunken drivers, The Bee reported.

Whitley "admitted to having a part in the crime," but claimed that he "did not know all that was going on," according to his probation report.

Q: Is the killer of Johnny Compton still in prison? Did details ever come out about the motive for the killing of the boy? - Nick, Sacramento

A: Randall Archie Cope, now 43, is incarcerated at the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo.

He is serving a 16 years to life sentence for the June 23, 1988 murder of Jonathan Lee Compton, 11, in Diamond Springs, The Bee reported and records show.

Cope pleaded no contest to second-degree murder.

Cope told authorities he went to the Diamond Springs apartment shared by the victim and his mother to confront the woman over her accusation "of his stealing drugs," according to a probation report.

The report said Cope recalled finding the boy at home alone, cooking eggs in the kitchen. The child asked him to leave but Cope said he would wait for boy's mother.

Cope said the boy attacked him and he blacked out. He next remembered being with the dying boy. Compton was beaten and stabbed to death.

The probation report said Cope was an alcoholic, who experienced blackouts.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q: What is the status of Douglas Scott Mickey who killed two people in Placer County? - T.G., Newcastle

A: Douglas Mickey, now 62, is on death row at San Quentin State Prison, where he has been since September 1983, records show.

Mickey received the death sentence for the September 1980 murders of two Placer County residents - Eric Hanson, 29, and Catherine Blount, 19, The Bee reported.

The two were killed in their rural home off Wise Road in Ophir.

Q: What happened to Gregory Rand Jr.? I think he was convicted in the '90s for a robbery and murder? - D., Sacramento

A: Gregory Lee Rand Jr. is one of three former Center High School football players in prison for the unprovoked slaying of a restaurant employee on Oct. 23, 1994, The Bee reported and records show.

Although all three were 17 at the time of the slaying, they were tried as adults by the Sacramento County district attorney.

Rand is serving a 29 years to life sentence. Dewayne "Tommy" DeLuna is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Richard Paul Pinola is serving 25 years to life.

All three are now 33 years old.

DeLuna shot David Lamburth, 19, a kitchen manager at Bistro Pete's in Antelope, as the three robbed the restaurant. Lamburth was complying with the robbers' orders when he was shot, investigators said.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q: In the '90s, a woman gave birth and left the baby in a trash bin behind apartments on La Riviera Drive. What happened to the woman and the baby? - MF, Sacramento

A: On Nov. 15, 1996 a Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Judy Ann Johnson to five years in prison, The Bee reported.

The Rosemont mother had earlier pleaded no contest to attempted murder of her newborn baby who was left to die in an apartment complex trash bin.

Johnson is no longer in the state prison system, records show.

Q: What happened to the man who shot and killed Michael Logsdon at Creekside Elementary School in front of his children in November 1997? - Decline to State, Sacramento

A: Jess Perry West, now 47, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole at the California State Prison at Corcoran, records show. (Photo at left is of West in the early 1990s.)

West pleaded no contest to the Nov. 13, 1997 slaying of Michael Logsdon, 47. No one else was charged in the crime, The Bee reported.

West killed Logsdon, in front of dozens of horrified children and parents outside Creekside Elementary School in the Arden-Arcade area.

Logsdon was waiting in his minivan for two children, including his 6-year-old daughter, outside Creekside Elementary.

Q: Is it true that James Dewayne Nivette, who shot his girlfriend and abandoned their baby, is out of prison? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Nivette, now 68, is in prison at the Men's Colony at San Luis Obispo, records show.

He is serving 18 years to life after pleading guilty to second-degree murder for the Nov. 16, 1997, slaying of Gina Barnett in the Folsom condominium they shared, The Bee reported. (Undated photo at left is of Barnett and her and Nivette's son.)

The 25-year-old woman was murdered in what police described as a rage killing after Nivette learned she was seeing another man half his age.

Nivette pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on the eve of his murder trial.

After the shooting, he fled with the couple's 18-month-old boy.

Q: What happened in the mutilation-murder case of Leroy Christie in the 1990s? - Margie, Ripon

A: Daniel David Reinking, now 34, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 1996 for the slaying of Christie, his stepfather, according to Sacramento Superior Court records and Bee reports. Christie's disemboweled body was found in a freezer and his internal organs were found in garbage bags.

The motive for the April 16, 1995, killing of Christie, 60, in the Robla neighborhood in north Sacramento may never be known, authorities said at the time of the sentencing.

Reinking is not in the California prison system, records show.

What happened to Brandon Bowman who while driving drunk killed a pregnant woman? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Brandon Bowman, now 29, is serving a nearly 13-year sentence at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, records show. (Bee staff photo at left shows Bowman at left at his tria.)

Bowman, a drifter, pleaded no contest to charges of gross vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence causing death or injury, drunken driving and hit-and-run.

He killed Annette Brodovsky, a 33-year-old mother of two who was five months pregnant, and seriously injured another woman on April 2, 2007, The Bee reported.

Q: What happened to the man convicted of sexually attacking a little girl in Renfree Park in the late 1980s? I heard he was out of prison. - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Anthony Sebastino, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl in Sacramento County in 1983, has been found living in Boston by a detective with the Sacramento Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Task Force.

A Crime Q&A report last week said Sebastino, now 56, was out of prison and had failed to register as a sexual offender in the state of California.

Detective John Foster with the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department said he found Sebastino registered as a sexual offender in Massachusetts under the name of Tony Veto Sebastino Jr.

The task force, comprised of officers from several law enforcement agencies, registers convicted sexual offenders in the unincorporated area of Sacramento County and the cities of Rancho Cordova and Sacramento. The task force also investigates convicted sexual offenders to make sure they are complying with state law.

Sebastino apparently was released from prison in 1997, records indicate. His last known previous address was in Sacramento County.

On Aug. 22, 1989, a Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Sebastino to 15 years to life in prison for molesting a 5-year-old girl, The Bee reported.

Sebastino lured the girl to Renfree Park off Auburn Boulevard with candy and a soft drink on May 22, 1989, and then sexually molested her.

Sebastino pleaded guilty to committing lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14. In exchange for his guilty plea and an admission to the sentence enhancements alleged, a kidnapping charge was dismissed.

According to court documents, the girl told officers Sebastino, who was described as a transient, took her to a store and bought her candy and soda after she missed her bus to school. The pair then walked to the park, where he molested her, she said.

Sebastino, arrested at the scene, told investigators he didn't remember what happened after he drank two pints of wine and met a little girl who asked him to buy her a soda, court records show.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q. What is the status of a homeless man who killed Alfredo Solis? The man's name is Kevin Dwayne Henderson.

A: Henderson, now 51, is serving a 15 years to life sentence at Mule Creek State Prison at Ione for the 2002 murder, records show.

Henderson, who was homeless, killed Solis, 51, in a carjacking as the Antelope man was on his way to buy building supplies for his daughter's home, The Bee reported.

Solis' body was found July 14, 2002, near the Union Pacific railroad tracks in an abandoned almond orchard north of Antelope and Roseville roads. Solis disappeared the day before while making a trip to a Home Depot store only about a quarter mile from his home.

A couple said that Henderson came to their home the night that Solis disappeared with an injured arm and a pickup truck they had never seen before. The pickup had blood inside.

They called the Sacramento Sheriff's Department and Henderson was arrested.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q: What happened to the two young girls that stabbed to death an 80-year-old woman in an Auburn apartment complex in the early '80s? I heard that one girl also stabbed a prison guard. - jimbob, Auburn

A: Shirley Wolf, then 14, and Cindy Collier, then 15, were convicted of the slaying of June 14, 1983, slaying of 85-year-old Anna Brackett.

The victim died in her condominium after being stabbed 28 times with a butcher knife. The death wound was 4 inches deep, authorities said.

Wolf and Collier each received an 8-year sentence in the California Youth Authority for the killing, The Bee reported.

Wolf was still in prison until at least the late 1990s after she assaulted guards, in one case stabbing a California Youth Authority supervisor. The supervisor survived the attack. She also tried to escape by ramming a stolen prison vehicle into a prison gate.

The Bee was unable to determine the current locations of Wolf and Collier, but they are no longer in the state prison system.

In 1983, Wolf told authorities that she and Collier picked out cars they liked at an Auburn apartment complex and then knocked on doors with numbers that matched the car stalls, asking for directions, for a glass of water or to use a phone.

Brackett answered their knock and chatted with the girls for three hours.

"Saw she was an old lady. Perfect car. Just a setup. We figured we'd kill her," Wolf told sheriff's deputies. Wolf said it was her "job" to hold down Brackett and kill her while Collier ransacked the house.

"She was telling me to stop," Wolf told sheriff's deputies. "That she was dying. And I turned and I go, 'Good.'"

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q. What happened to the people who murdered Keith Peterson in Rio Linda several years ago? - Anonymous, Rocklin

A: Matthew J. Pennucci and Robert Dean McDaniel were convicted of murdering and robbing Peterson on April 24, 1995, at his Rio Linda home, records show.

A third person, Deanna Cooke, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.

Pennucci, now 43, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole at the Corcoran State Prison, records show.

McDaniel, now 46, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole at the Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga.

Cook has since been released from prison.

Robbery was the motive for the killing. Valuable items, including appliances and cash, were taken from Peterson's U Street residence, The Bee reported.

Peterson, a 54-year-old retired aerospace worker, was shot several times in the face with a small-caliber weapon.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q. Are Walter Currie and Paul E. Davis still in prison? They killed my brother Eldred Hardin 18 years ago in the Dos Rios housing project.

A: The killers of your brother - Paul E. Davis and Walter Currie Jr. - are in prison, records show.

Davis, now 37, is in the Folsom State Prison. Currie, now 35, is the Mule Creek State Prison at Ione.

The two men were convicted of the May 11, 1992, stabbing death of Hardin, 37, The Bee reported.

The men mistook Hardin for a person who had information about an earlier robbery of Davis.

After the stabbing, Hardin staggered to a nearby apartment at the Dos Rios government-subsidized housing project - just north of downtown Sacramento - where his pleas for help were ignored.

He later was dragged by residents to a lawn area where he died.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q. I'm trying to figure out what happened to the men who killed an old grade-school friend of mine named Jason Taylor. - Troy, Sacramento

A: Gregory Debortoli was convicted of second-degree murder and arson in the death of your friend, Jason Taylor, in July 2002, according to records and Bee reports.

Online court records show him receiving a four-year 8-month sentence. However, Debortoli, now 36, is still incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison at Ione, according to California Corrections Department records. The Bee could not obtain further records on Debortoli.

Debortoli, 36, spent an evening drinking in a Rosemont bar with the Taylor, 23. The pair met two men, and all four left in Taylor's car "in an intoxicated state," according to sheriff's reports.

With Debortoli driving and Taylor sitting next to him, the two got into an argument. Debortoli hit Taylor numerous times, then pulled over and locked him in the trunk, according to reports.

Debortoli drove the other men home after they became alarmed by the incident, a sheriff's spokeswoman told The Bee after Debortoli's arrest.

Authorities said they believe Debortoli then drove to the parking lot of a church in the 8200 block of East Stockton Boulevard, robbed Taylor and killed him with a blunt object.

Shortly before 5:30 a.m., Debortoli set the vehicle on fire and walked toward a nearby motel, the spokeswoman said.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q. In the mid 1990s, a young boy was shot to death on his way to a skating rink in a case of mistaken identify. Was anyone ever convicted? - Anonymous, Elk Grove

A: Banquo "Bankroll" Young is serving 25 years to life in prison for the Nov. 19, 1994, killing of 13-year-old Antoine Bryant.

Young, now 35, is incarcerated at Pelican Bay State Prison, records show.

Investigators said that Bryant was killed because Young, gang member, was trying to settle a score from an earlier shooting involving the car that transported the slain youth.

Police said Bryant and his friends "had no idea there had been a previous altercation" as they headed for a roller-skating rink.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q: What happened to Ralph Marcus? He was accused of murdering a young boy in a fraudulent scam for life insurance profit. - L. Pipkin, Sacramento

A: Ralph A. Marcus was sentenced Jan. 13, 2000 in Yolo Superior Court to life in prison without parole for killing an 18-year-old friend to collect $850,000 in insurance money, The Bee reported.

Marcus, now 56, is incarcerated in the Pleasant Valley State Prison at Coalinga, records show.

The sentence came nearly three years after Nicholas Howard disappeared while driving home on a narrow two-lane levee road, sparking a Sacramento River search by Marcus and other volunteers.

Marcus strangled Howard, a longtime family friend who died in February 1997.

At trial, prosecutors argued that Marcus killed his friend in an attempt to collect on an $850,000 life insurance policy and to seek revenge against Howard's mother, who had rebuffed his romantic advances for more than 25 years.

Marcus had persuaded Howard to make him the beneficiary of a 1996 life insurance policy.

He told Howard that if he were the beneficiary, he would be able to "quadruple the receipts and make it more lucrative" for Howard's survivors, the prosecutor said.

Days after Howard's disappearance, his empty car turned up in the river near Clarksburg. Nearly three weeks later, Feb. 25, 1997, Howard's body was recovered about a half-mile downstream. An autopsy revealed he had been slain.

During the trial, prosecutors argued that Marcus had tampered with the car to make it look like an accident.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q. James Kunitz, my brother, was killed at a convenience store he managed in 1980. He was a good man who loaned people money to buy groceries. Where are the men who killed him? I heard one had his sentence commuted. - S.L., Sacramento

A: The two men convicted of murdering your brother are in prison, records show.

Michael J. Rhinehart, now 51, is in the Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad.

Michael Avery Hunt, also now 51, is in the California State Prison, Sacramento.

Both men are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole.

In 1983, Hunt requested that a court to change his sentence to life with the chance of parole. A Sacramento Superior Court judge rejected the request.

On Jan. 15, 1980, Kunitz, 34, was accosted by Rhinehart and Hunt, according to court testimony.

Kunitz was leaving the Shortstop Market at Fruitridge Road and Wilkinson Street with a sack of store receipts.

Kunitz was shot in the chest and the back. The two men stole the sack that contained a small amount of money. Kunitz died four days later.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q: What has happened to Eric Houston who killed a teacher and three students at a Yuba County school years ago? Anonymous, Marysville

A: Houston, now 38, is in his 18th year on California's Death Row for the May 1, 1992 murders at Lindhurst High School in Yuba County. (In photo, law enforcement officers evacuate students from the school. Bee staff photo.)

On that day as seniors and juniors talked of prom dresses and graduation, Eric Houston, then a 20-year-old disgruntled dropout, donned a camouflage hunting vest, loaded his car with an arsenal and pulled up to the school as afternoon classes got under way, The Bee reported.

Houston strode into the school with a semiautomatic rifle and a shotgun and fatally gunned down three students and Robert Brens, a popular 28-year-old history teacher.

He killed students Beamon Hill, 16, Judy Davis, 17, and Jason White, 19.

Houston, who had just lost his job and his fiancee, injured 10 others in the attack that trapped 84 students in the building as hostages. During the next eight hours, he let small groups go during the standoff with authorities, until 10:30 that night, when he walked out unarmed.

In the days that followed, tales of valor emerged, of quick-thinking students and staff members who curbed the bloodshed, who died to save others.

The apparent motive: Houston blamed the bleakness of his life on the school where he failed to get a diploma.

In 1994, a judge ordered Houston to pay $189,607 to the Marysville Joint Unified School District for workers' compensation and death benefits. But since he's without assets, the district may never receive it, The Bee reported.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q. What about those three guys convicted of murdering Stephen Clay in North Sacramento. What did they get? Anonymous, Sacramento.

A. Hundreds of years, literally.

At their Nov. 22 sentencing, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Greta Curtis Fall sentenced Edward Garcia, 23, to 109 years and four months to life. Hector Jaime Garcia, 26, who had a previous "three strikes" conviction, got 143 years and eight months. Manuel Alvarez Jr., 25, was sentenced to 132 years and eight months in prison.

Along with the murder, the defendants were convicted of attempted murder on two other men who were shot and injured in the Aug. 19, 2007, shooting on Eleanor Avenue.

Deputy District Attorney Sean Laird said in a press release that the sentences "reflect the seriousness of these crimes" and that "justice will be served for those who resort to extreme violence on our city streets."

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q: Has the man who killed all those girls and was known as the "I-5 Strangler" died? I knew one of the victims. - Someone Who Knew a V, Sacramento

Roger Reece Kibbe is now 71 and in prison at the Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, records show. He passed his 19th year in prison last June. (Photo at left is of Kibbe from a 2008 court hearing.)

In August 2009, Kibbe finally admitted that he killed six young women investigators had long suspected were his victims, The Bee reported.

Kibbe pleaded guilty to killing Lou Ellen Burleigh in 1977 and Lora Heedrick, Barbara Ann Scott, Stephanie Brown, Charmaine Sabrah and Katherine Kelly Quinones, all in 1986.

In exchange for the plea, which included special circumstances of rape, kidnapping and a previous murder conviction, prosecutors agreed they wouldn't seek the death penalty or charge him for additional crimes.

Kibbe already was serving time for the 1991 slaying of 17-year-old Darcine Frackenpohl, a runaway from Seattle whose body was found in El Dorado County.

In November 2009, Kibbe was sentenced to six consecutive life terms.

"This will ensure he'll never have the opportunity to have parole," a deputy district attorney with San Joaquin County, told The Bee in 2009. "Basically, he's going to die in prison now."

Authorities long suspected Kibbe was responsible for many unsolved homicides where women were sexually assaulted and killed near major roadways. He often left a signature - random cuts in his victims' clothing.

Investigators struggled with evidence because in many cases the victims' bodies were decomposed and there was no DNA evidence.

Bruce Henderson authored the book "Trace Evidence," which chronicled the case of the so-called I-5 Strangler.

"There's one missing, Karen Finch," said Bruce Henderson authored the book "Trace Evidence," which chronicled the case of the I-5 Strangler.

Finch, a 25-year-old Lodi resident, was found sexually assaulted and killed in a ditch along Kiefer Boulevard, a half-mile north of Jackson Road, in 1987.

A prosecutor said there wasn't enough evidence to charge Kibbe in Finch's killing, but that her case is "still being investigated."

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q: What happened to Clarence Smith, the sickle slayer? He killed my brother, who was trying to help a woman Smith was attacking. - Nita Simmons, Auburn

A: Clarence Otis Smith died in prison in 2008 at age 80, records show.

Smith was serving two life sentences for his 1972 conviction on two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder, The Bee reported.

He was convicted of murdering Donna Fitzhugh, 28, of Ontario and a mother of two, and John Simmons, 29, of Weimar, in July 1971.

He was also known as the "Dog Bar killer" for the site along the American River where he committed the murders. He was called the "sickle slayer" because of the curved-blade knife he used.

Smith told officials that God had ordered him to kill people "possessed by demons" at the campground between Auburn and Nevada City.

Smith, who worked as a garbage collector, fled after the killings. FBI agents tracked him to Mexico City within a couple of weeks of the slayings and arrested him.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q: In the late 1990s or early 2000s, Helen Mae Jordan was murdered and her husband shot by a guy named Johnny Sierra. What happened to Johnny? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Johnny Ray Sierra, now 33, is in prison, serving a 25-years-to-life sentence, according to court and prison records.

Sierra, who lived just blocks from the victims' home in North Highlands, pleaded guilty on Dec. 5, 2001 to second-degree murder in the slaying of Jordan and no contest to assault with a deadly weapon in the shooting of her husband, Roger James, court records and Bee reports show.

Detectives told The Bee at the time of Sierra's arrest that they believe the couple was shot on Aug. 26, 2000, after a dispute over a monetary debt.

When deputies arrived outside Sierra's motel room, the next day, Sierra eventually jumped out of the room, extended his arms as if to shoot, pointed a tube of toothpaste at deputies and yelled, "Bang, bang, bang!"

He was then taken into custody.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here

Q: What happened to the youths who killed an elderly man for his Walkman at the Del Paso light rail station in 1996? - Ian, Sacramento

A: Ricardo Lynn Hall, now 35, is in prison serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, prison and court records show.

Hall was convicted of murdering John Yee, 61, on March 27, 1996, to steal Yee's Walkman stereo, The Bee reported.

Yee was attacked while waiting for a light-rail train at Arden Way and Del Paso Boulevard in North Sacramento.

Hall was also accused of encouraging two 13-year-olds to join in the attack. At one point, he ordering the teens to not to forget to take Yee's wallet

The prosecutor said that Hall used the youngsters to commit crimes.

The minors were tried on murder and robbery charges in juvenile court. Because of their ages and the venue, The Bee was unable to determine the outcome of that trial.

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Q: What happened to Darryl Rosen, the former police officer who was convicted of sexual assaults while on duty? Is he out of prison? - Jo, Sparks, Nev.

A: Rosen, now 35, is out of prison and living in the Sacramento area, records indicate.

On Oct. 22, 2004, a Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Rosen, a former Sacramento Police Department officer, to more than nine years in prison for sexually assaulting women while on duty, The Bee reported.

Rosen was convicted of 11 separate counts of sexual battery, false imprisonment and assault by a peace officer involving four women. Jurors found him not guilty on four charges relating to two of his six alleged victims.

The jury deadlocked 9-3 for conviction on the rape charge, which could have meant a lifetime in prison for Rosen, but found him guilty of both sexual batteries and a charge of intimidating a witness.

The city of Sacramento paid $390,000 to resolve federal civil rights lawsuits filed by three of the sexual assault victims.

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Q: What happened to the man accused of murdering and raping a woman in a Folsom retirement home in 2009? - Anonymous, Folsom

A: A preliminary hearing is scheduled Jan. 25 in Sacramento Superior Court for Sylvester Griffin (left), 42, on murder, rape, robbery and burglary charges, court records show. Meanwhile, he is in the Sacramento jail on a no-bail hold.

A close friend found Alice Murphy, 64, dead inside her apartment at a senior living community on Creekside Drive just before noon on Dec. 21, The Bee reported.

Authorities obtained a warrant for Griffin's arrest after DNA taken from the crime scene was matched to Grffin's DNA profile in an FBI database, a Folsom police spokesman said.

The FBI likely had Griffin's DNA because of past criminal activity, the spokesman said.

Griffin does not have a criminal record in Sacramento County, according to court records.

Detectives said they learned that Griffin, who lived in Elk Grove at the time of Murphy's killing, had moved to Columbia, S.C., where he has family. Police arrested him there without incident June 16.

Police said they know that Griffin was working as a driver for the Rapid Response Medical Transportation service at the time of the slaying.

Though Murphy never used that service for medical appointments, others in her senior living community did, police said.

The friend who found Murphy told police the front door was open when she arrived.

Family members told The Bee that Murphy frequently left her front door open for her cat.

There were no signs of forced entry, police said, and her apartment was not ransacked.

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Q: In the 1990s, Tessie Ford, who was eight months pregnant, along with her young son were murdered in their Sacramento home by her husband. Where is he now? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Mariet Timothy Ford (left in a 1998 photo), now 49, is in prison, records show.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Ford - a former University of California, Berkeley, football star - in 1998 to 45 years to life in prison for murdering his pregnant wife, 3-year-old boy and unborn son, The Bee reported.

Ford won't be eligible for parole until 2028, The Bee reported at the time of his sentencing.

He was convicted of three counts of second-degree murder and arson for beating his son, 3-year-old Mariet Jr., and Teresita "Tessie" Ford, his pregnant wife, to death, then using gasoline to torch their bodies as they lay on the dining room floor of their new Laguna Creek home in January 1997.

Ford, who also played in the Canadian Football League, was arrested six months later.

During the month-long trial, the prosecution portrayed Ford as an unfaithful husband, stressed out by financial problems and resentful about his wife's unplanned pregnancy.

In testimony, Ford denied the killings by telling jurors he loved his family and was a successful salesman for a telecommunications firm. He said the real killer was probably a burglar.

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Q: What happened to Bruce Clotfelter, the child molester, who was found posing as a Top Gun Fighter pilot at schools in Roseville in 1994 or 1995? Has he been released and is he back in the Sacramento area? - Anonymous, Roseville

A: Bruce Lee Clotfelter, now 50, is living in Napa, according to the Megan's Law sexual offender registry.

Clotfelter (left) was released from prison in 2003, records show.

He apparently voluntarily underwent surgical castration in hopes the procedure would control his urges to molest young boys, The Bee reported.

In 1996, Clotfelter, a convicted child molester, was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison Thursday for posing as a Navy "Top Gun" pilot in January on visits to Roseville elementary schools and a Navy recruiting station.

Clotfelter pleaded guilty to four counts of impersonating a military officer.

Clotfelter, then on parole from his molestation conviction, wore a flight suit when he visited schools.

He told officials he was Cmdr. Talon Fox and was scouting campuses for his children in anticipation of relocating to the Sacramento area, according to federal prosecutors.

Clotfelter was given tours of several schools, spoke to students about his purported career and signed Navy posters for the children.

In fact, Clotfelter was not married, had never held a job for more than six months, and lived with his parents in Citrus Heights.

Clotfelter was imprisoned for child molestation in 1989, when he was a church youth group leader in Oroville. He was arrested on charges of lewd and lascivious behavior with five boys ages 9 to 13.

He pleaded guilty in Butte County to three of the counts involving three boys. In return, authorities dropped the other charges.

Clotfelter was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was paroled in April 1994 after serving four years and eight months.

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What happened to the guy who is suspected of punching Satender Singh and causing his death? - Gretchen, Sacramento

Andrey Vusik, 32, the man suspected of throwing the fatal punch that caused the death of Satender Singh, may be in Moscow, other parts of Russia or the Ukraine, the FBI told The Bee.

A Sacramento County District Attorney's spokeswoman confirmed that there is an active warrant outstanding for Vusik (left).

A jury convicted Aleksandr Shevchenko, 22, of disturbing the peace and simple assault in the death of Singh, both misdemeanors. He was sentenced to 150 days in jail.

The jury acquitted Shevchenko of a hate crime charge.

Singh was among a group of people drinking and dancing to Indian music by Natoma Lake in July 2007. Singh was the only one without a date and was seen hugging and dancing with other men, according to witnesses.

Shevchenko was also with a group of people, who allegedly aimed racial and homophobic slurs at Singh's group.

Witnesses testified that a group with Singh also provoked Shevchenko and his friends with racial slurs and lewd dancing, Shevchenko's attorney said.

Singh was punched more than three hours after the confrontation began. He fell and struck his head. Singh died four days later, authorities said.

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Q: Was Gary Jay Livers of Orangevale ever convicted of child molestation? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Livers' court case is still in the pretrial stages. No trial date has been set. His next court date is set for Nov. 4, according to Sacramento Superior Court records.

Livers (left), 45, is in jail on $3 million bail, facing seven felony charges of sexually assaulting a child.

He was arrested on July 29 by Sacramento County Sheriff's Department deputies, The Bee reported.

Livers is accused of sexually assaulting a now 11-year-old girl multiple times, a Sheriff's Department spokesman said. The alleged assault began when the child was 10 years old, he said.

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Whatever happened to Joseph Simlick who is accused of killing the parents of his ex-girlfriend in Sutter? - Barb, Sacramento

A preliminary hearing is scheduled in Sutter County Superior Court on Dec. 8 for Joseph Hayden Simlick, charged with two counts of first-degree murder and false imprisonment, court records and media accounts show.

In August, Simlick, 21, of Loomis pleaded not guilty to the slayings of Jack and Susan Martin, both 46, on July 30.

The Martins were found in their burned-out home on Mulberry Street in Sutter.

Simlick is also charged with falsely imprisoning the Martins' youngest daughter five days before the deaths of her parents, a sheriff's spokesman said shortly after Simlick's arrest.

The spokesman said that jealousy and anger apparently were factors in the deaths.

A judge has since issued a gag order in the case.

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Q: What happened to the man who allegedly got fired from an adult novelty store for not being gay? - Chu Papi, Earth

A: The case of Michael Beaton who claimed he was fired from Suzie's Adult Superstore on Auburn Boulevard because he wasn't gay has been settled, both sides to the civil suit say.

The case was settled, said Jordan T.L. Peters, attorney for Beaton, but she declined further comment, citing terms of the settlement.

Ben Webster of Littler Mendelson PC - attorney for Janra Enterprises, owner of Suzie's - said, "The case was resolved on a confidential basis with no admission of improper conduct or liability of any kind."

Beaton worked as a security guard at Suzie's and helped out on sales as needed, according to the suit filed in Sacramento Superior Court this spring.

But when he asked for a promotion to a full-time sales slot, Beaton claimed he was turned down because he isn't gay.

Beaton claimed he was hired in March 2009 to work as a part-time security guard at Suzie's. He said he quickly moved up to full time and then covered for salespeople when they took lunch breaks.

The suit claimed that Beaton's supervisor told him he'd be good in a sales job. Beaton said he scored high in a sales test, but didn't get the promotion.

A supervisor told him, "You're just not the gay boy that they're looking for," according to the suit.

The suit stated Beaton "learned that a gay man ... had been hired for the sales job."

Beaton was put to work doing work such as cleaning up after patrons had sex in film booths and picking up used condoms and hypodermic needles, the suit claimed.

The suit claimed Beaton was hurt on the job in January. In February, he told his boss he would no longer work on the booths to aid sexual activity.

The suit claimed he was effectively fired in April when his boss told him that he was "done."

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Q: In the 1980s, Larry LaPoint killed Ray Lockridge a Coker-Ewing real estate agent. The shooting occurred at the real estate office in Roseville. Where is Lapoint now? - Anonymous, Roseville

A: Lawrence Eugene Lapoint, now 66, is in prison, records indicate.

Lapoint was sentenced to prison for 25 years to life for the Oct. 29, 1985, rifle and shotgun attack on a Roseville real estate office that left one man dead, The Bee reported.

Lapoint's sentence for the murder of Lockridge and six other criminal convictions from the same attack mean Lapoint would serve at least 25 years in state prison before becoming eligible for parole, prosecutors said at the time of his sentencing. Lapoint was sentenced on May 29, 1987.

The fatal shooting incident occurred at the Coker-Ewing Real Estate office on Douglas Boulevard in Roseville.

It stemmed from Lapoint's feud with the firm over alleged deficiencies in a south Roseville home that his ex-wife had purchased from Coker-Ewing. Lapoint, though divorced from his wife, still lived at the home.

Lockridge, 40, died in his office of gunshot wounds while Lapoint held hostage another Coker-Ewing employee who was wounded in the foot.

Lapoint surrendered to the California Highway Patrol about an hour after the shooting began, telling authorities he was after the firm's owners, Robert Coker and Harry Ewing.

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Q: What happened to the man who killed Katherine Thomas in 1990? I was renting a room to her when she was killed. - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: In November 1992, Richard Ray Thomas was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for the shooting death of his estranged wife, who died carrying in her purse a restraining order she had been granted against him.

Thomas, a 38-year-old journeyman mason, was convicted in October 1992 by a jury of killing Katherine A. Thomas, 25, who died quickly after being shot three times with a 12-gauge shotgun on Jan. 24, 1990, as she worked at River City Rentals on Jackson Highway.

Just before he pulled the trigger, Thomas told the victim, "I warned you, didn't I? I warned you, " according to a co-worker. He then said, "Now somebody shoot me. Somebody please shoot me."

Evidence revealed that Katherine Thomas had filed for dissolution of their marriage on Nov. 22, 1989, and had obtained a temporary restraining order against her husband six weeks before the shooting.

Richard Thomas legally bought the shotgun he used to kill the victim about 40 minutes before the shooting. This case was cited in the ultimately successful push to get a waiting period in California for the purchase of long guns.

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Q: What is happening in the murder case of Leroy "Pops" Fisher, the friendly security guard who was killed in the Badlands parking lot? - Bradley, Carmichael

A: Michael Bruce Weisz is scheduled to go on trial Nov. 30 for second-degree murder in Fisher's death, Sacramento Superior Court records show.

Fisher died in a local hospital about an hour after he allegedly was hit by Weisz's Scion outside the Badlands club at 20th and K streets in Sacramento in the early morning hours of Sept. 23, 2009, The Bee reported.

Weisz, 22, also faces a felony charge of hit and run, records show.

Weisz' attorney argued in earlier court proceedings that Fisher's death was an accident.

Police said Weisz and a friend had been bounced from the club for unruly behavior. Police contended Weisz purposely hit the 64-year-old Fisher and then fled.

Weisz turned himself in later on Sept. 23 at a San Francisco police station.

The Sacramento District Attorney's Office charged Weisz with first-degree murder. But Sacramento Superior Court Judge James L. Long ruled there was insufficient evidence to support a first-degree murder charge, which requires proof of premeditation.

Instead, the judge ordered Weisz to stand trial on a second-degree murder charge.

Weisz's attorney put the blame on Fisher, saying Fisher assaulted Weisz with a stun gun.

"It is clear from the defense standpoint that the unfortunate death of Mr. Fisher was just an accident, brought on by Mr. Fisher's own conduct," attorney Don Masuda said in an e-mail to The Bee in December.

More than 100 people held a candlelight vigil in September for Leroy Berry Fisher III, known as "Pops" among clubgoers for his fatherly ways.

Q: A couple years ago, around Christmastime, there was a couple from Natomas who were stabbed to death in their home. Their son was arrested for the crime. What has happened since? Toni, Elk Grove

A: Matthew Riley (left), the couple's 33-year-old son, is scheduled to go on trial Nov. 16 for two counts of murder in the deaths of his parents, Steven and Linda Riley, according to Sacramento Superior Court records.

He is being held without bail in the Sacramento County jail, according to jail records.

Riley placed a 911 call on Dec. 9, 2008, to alert authorities that he had found his parents fatally slashed in their home, The Bee reported. They each suffered 19 stab wounds, autopsy results showed.

According to an arrest warrant filed by investigators, Riley told police he had gone over to talk to his parents about moving in with them because he, his wife and two children were being evicted from their home in Auburn. Police said he told them he had been without work since March 2008.

Police say Riley told them he let himself in, assumed his parents were still at work, went to the family room to find a book and did not see his father's body until he headed to the kitchen for water.

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Q: What was the outcome of Vivian Hoang's trial for conspiracy and pot cultivation in Elk Grove? - Bill, Sparks, Nev.

A: Hoang, now 37, pleaded no contest on May 7 to one felony count of possession of more than $100,000 obtained from drug transactions, court records show. (Photo left is from 2007.)

She was sentenced to five years probation and 246 hours in custody. The 246 hours in custody was later converted to 246 hours of community service.

As reported in The Bee on Sept. 21, 2007, Hoang was one of 15 people arrested two days earlier as Elk Grove police, in a 14-hour operation, raided 21 homes in Elk Grove, Sacramento and Galt.

Records showed Hoang, a real estate agent, was listed as owner of two of the homes.

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Q: What happened to Shane Vicars, the afterschool instructor, arrested earlier this year? Lena, Sacramento

A: Vicars' case is in the pretrial stages. No date has been set for a trial, Sacramento Superior Court records show.

Vicars (left), 26, faces 22 counts of lewd or lascivious conduct with a child under the age of 14, according to court records.

He is being held in the Sacramento County Jail on $1 million bail, jail records show.

On Jan. 6, Sacramento County sheriff's detectives arrested Vicars, a child development teacher at the Sierra Oaks K-8 School's Discovery Club, The Bee reported.

Child-abuse detectives allege that Vicars abused multiple boys between the ages of 7 and 11 within the last 18 months, a sheriff's spokesman told The Bee after Vicars' arrest.

All of the alleged victims were enrolled in the after-school Discovery Club at Sierra Oaks and told detectives the alleged abuse occurred when they were alone with Vicars in a classroom, the spokesman said.

In all cases, the alleged molestation involved inappropriate touching, the spokesman said.

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By Cathy Locke
clocke@sacbee.com

An explosion that injured a 14-year-old Granite Bay boy this afternoon was caused by an illegal firework, according to the Placer County sheriff's bomb squad.

The boy sustained a moderate to severe injury to his hand, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

Sheriff's emergency dispatchers received a call at 3:53 p.m. from a neighbor who reported hearing an explosion in the 5300 block of Olive Ranch Road. Deputies found the boy inside his home with an injured hand.

The youth was taken to Sutter Roseville Medical Center.

Sheriff's officials said the incident remains under investigation.

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Call The Bee's Cathy Locke, (916) 321-5287.

By Cathy Locke
clocke@sacbee.com

Efforts to provide medical aid to the victim of a hit-and-run crash in Woodland this morning were complicated when the air ambulance experienced a "bird strike."

Woodland police officers arrived at the intersection of West Beamer and California streets at 8:27 a.m. after receiving a report that a pedestrian had been injured by a hit-and-run driver. The victim, a 53-year-old woman, was found lying in the middle of the intersection.

Medical personnel requested an air ambulance to take her to the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. Police and officials at nearby Woodland High School evacuated the school stadium so the football field could be used as a landing zone, according to a police department news release.

A CALSTAR air ambulance landed on the field and the woman was placed on board. But moments after taking off, and while still over the ball field, the helicopter collided with a bird, and as a safety measure the pilot landed.

The victim was moved to a ground ambulance, and CALSTAR personnel immediately requested a nearby REACH helicopter, which landed on the football field and took the woman to the hospital.

Police said they are withholding the woman's name until they receive an update from the medical center on her condition. Although her condition was serious, they said she was conscious and able to speak at the scene of the collision.

Police said witnesses stated that the woman, who was not affiliated with Woodland High School, was in the crosswalk when she was struck by a vehicle traveling through the intersection. Witnesses told officers that after the initial impact, the woman struck the windshield of the vehicle and rolled over the top of the car before landing in the middle of the intersection.

The vehicle was described as a dark midsize, four-door sedan. Police said the car likely would have front-end and windshield damage, and may be missing a hubcap. It was reportedly occupied by two men in their early 20s.

A mechanical inspection found no damage to the CALSTAR helicopter as a result of the bird strike and the aircraft was flown back to its operations base.

Anyone with information about the hit-and-run incident is asked to call the Woodland Police Department at (530) 666-2411.

Call The Bee's Cathy Locke, (916) 321-5287.

Q: About 1987, Kenny Bivert and Tony King killed some people. What is their current disposition? - David, Sacramento

A: Kenneth Bivert, now 42, is on death row for killing a convicted child molester in 1997, records show. Anthony "Tony" King, 40, is in prison for the murders that sent him and Bivert to prison in the first place.

Yolo County Superior Court juries convicted King and Bivert for the 1987 slayings of three people along the Sacramento River to steal their vehicles and go joy riding, records show. (An earlier version of this story mistakenly said the pair were convicted in Sacramento County.)

A judge sentenced King to 52 year to life in prison and Kenneth Bivert to 53 years to life in prison for the 1987 murders.

Over two days, Bivert and King killed three people along the Sacramento River solely to steal their vehicles and go joy riding, The Bee reported. Two of the bodies were so riddled with bullets that identification was difficult.

In 2001, Bivert was convicted in the 1997 murder of Leonard Swartz at Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad. According to testimony, Bivert targeted Swartz because he was a convicted child molester.

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Q: What happened to Louis Fowler, who embezzled $5 million from the state and later was caught growing a large amount of marijuana? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Fowler, now 55, of Sacramento, is a fugitive after failing to appear before a federal judge in December 2007, according to court records and Bee reports.

Fowler (photo left), who had been operating a Folsom Boulevard medical marijuana dispensary until he was arrested by Drug Enforcement Administration agents in 2005, failed to show up Dec. 21, 2007, for a change-of-plea hearing in federal court.

U.S. District Judge Edward J. Garcia revoked the $250,000 bail secured by a Rio Linda residence owned by Fowler's mother, where he had been living under house arrest.

The judge also ordered that a no-bail warrant be issued for Fowler's arrest.

Fowler was scheduled to plead guilty to cultivating at least 1,000 marijuana plants and carrying a firearm in connection with drug trafficking.

He faced a mandatory minimum 10 years in prison on the cultivation charge.

Fowler served seven years in state prison in the 1990s for embezzling $5.1 million from the State Water Resources Control Board, where he worked as an entry-level accountant from 1982 to 1985.

Most of the money has never been recovered.

With his embezzling crime not yet detected, he departed for Arizona, where he lived under the name of William Rice, a Sacramento man who died after being electrocuted on July 6, 1985.

Fowler operated two video rental stores in Arizona and lived the life of a big spender, investigators said.

Authorities caught up with him in 1989, and he was extradited to Sacramento.

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Q: About 15 years ago a young man was shot in the head and left for dead at a Sacramento intersection. I was wondering if they ever found out who did it. My son was given one of his kidneys. We will always be grateful to his family for the decision they made. - Anonymous, Sacramento.

A: Insisting on his innocence, Raymond Muhammad Ward was sent to prison on July 21, 1995, for the rest of his life for killing a 19-year-old motorist at a busy Sacramento intersection for the victim's customized Oldsmobile with gold-colored wheels, The Bee reported. (Photo at left was taken of Ward at his trial.)

"I am sorry. All I want to say is that I didn't do it," Ward said in a Sacramento Superior Court where he was given life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Judge Richard H. Gilmour could have given Ward, 19, a sentence in which he would be eligible for parole in 12 years. But the judge told Ward "there was virtually nothing of redeeming value" in his short life, which was filled with more crime then the lives of other criminals twice his age.

"This is one of those cases where words fail to describe the callousness of the crime. To kill someone to get their wheels is beyond comprehension," Gilmour said.

Ward, who was prosecuted as an adult, was 17 on Oct. 14, 1993, when he walked up to a 1984 Oldsmobile at a red light at Fruitridge Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard shortly after 11 a.m. Arthur Gonzalez was waiting for the light to change on his way to work at an automotive shop.

During the trial earlier, Deputy District Attorney Pete Harned put on eight witnesses who identified Ward as the gunman who coolly walked up to Gonzalez, shot him in the head, then dumped his body in the busy intersection as he drove off.

Other evidence included statements from Ward's friends, who said he bragged the day of the shooting and joked at how television reporters had messed up details of the slaying, testimony indicated.

Ward's friends said he admitted that he killed Gonzalez to steal his deep green customized car with gold-colored rims and trim.

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Q: Is there any news regarding the death of Craig Dalton, a shooting victim in Elk Grove? - tumbl23, Elk Grove

A: The Sacramento County district attorney has charged Dalton's ex-wife, Jennifer Ann Dalton, with murder. Doctors' reports on her competency are due to be presented in court on Sept. 8, court records show.

Craig Dalton, 39, was shot to death on July 14, 2009, The Bee reported.

Elk Grove police arrested Jennifer Dalton (photo left), who is also known as Jennifer Ann Tate in property records that day.

Police said Jennifer Dalton, 41, called 911 after her ex-husband was shot in the upper torso inside her home in the 9300 block of Rainbow Falls Way. Neighbors reported hearing three shots being fired.

Jennifer Dalton was detained and then taken by ambulance to a local hospital for evaluation, police said. Meanwhile, police obtained a search warrant and found a firearm inside that they believed was used in the shooting.

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What happened to Louis Fowler, who embezzled $5 million from the state and later was caught growing a large amount of marijuana? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Louis Fowler, now 58, is a fugitive from federal charges of cultivating at least 1,000 marijuana plants and carrying a firearm in connection with drug trafficking, Bee reports and court records show.

Fowler (2005 photo left), who had been operating a Folsom Boulevard medical marijuana dispensary until he was arrested by Drug Enforcement Administration agents in 2005, failed to show up Dec. 21, 2007, for a change-of-plea hearing in federal court. Instead, he disappeared, leaving behind the electronic ankle monitoring device he had been wearing.

U.S. District Judge Edward J. Garcia revoked the $250,000 bail secured by a Rio Linda residence owned by Fowler's mother, where he had been living under house arrest.

Fowler was scheduled to plead guilty Dec. 21 to cultivating at least 1,000 marijuana plants and carrying a firearm in connection with drug trafficking.

He faced a mandatory minimum 10 years in prison on the cultivation charge.

Fowler served seven years in state prison in the 1990s for embezzling $5.1 million from the State Water Resources Control Board, where he worked as an entry-level accountant from 1982 to 1985.

Most of the money has never been recovered.

With his embezzling crime not yet detected, he departed for Arizona, where he lived under the name of William Rice, a Sacramento man who died after being electrocuted on July 6, 1985.

Fowler operated two video rental stores in Arizona and lived the life of a big spender.

Authorities caught up with him in 1989, and he was extradited to Sacramento.

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By Bee Staff

San Jose firefighters today showed their mettle as rescuers when they rescued a man and his pet parrot who were both stuck in a tree.

According to a San Jose FD news release, Truck Company 13 responded to a report of a man stuck in a tree.

However, the firefighters found the man had been trying to rescue his pet parrot by having his friend winch him up into the tree with his jeep. The winch cable cut into the tree and got stuck, leaving the man stranded, according to the release. (Photo below courtesy of the San Jose FD.)

Firefighter Asha Wagner climbed the aerial ladder, put a harness on the stranded man and brought him down safely, the release states.

"The aerial was then repositioned and (firefighter) Mike Murray, aka "the bird whisperer," climbed the ladder and retrieved the frightened parrot," the release states.

Q: Is there any update on Michael Anthony Cox? He was on death row and it is now late 2010. - Wanting justice for, Placerville

A: Cox, now 54, is still on California's death row. He has been there since Dec. 5, 1985, prison records show.

Cox, who was so certain he would be exonerated that he asked his attorney not to present testimony against the death penalty, was sentenced in El Dorado County Superior Court on Nov. 26, 1985, to die for killing three Placerville teen-agers.

Cox was convicted of the murders of Lynda Burrill, 18, and triplet sisters Debra and Denise Galston, 14.

The three girls disappeared from Placerville's Main Street in the summer of 1984. Their bodies were found at different locations in the Eldorado National Forest.

Witnesses said Cox had called the three teenagers "whores and sluts," and District Attorney Ronald Tepper said Cox killed the girls to satisfy his "sadistic appetite."

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Q: What happened to the preacher who was busted for failing to register as a sex offender? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Calvin Lee Little pleaded no contest Aug. 9 to failing to register as a sex offender, a felony, and was sentenced to three years in state prison, Sacramento Superior Court records show.

Police arrested Little, 46, on Jan. 19 for not registering as a sex offender at his church in the 3900 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Little, 46, had been registered at his mother's house in North Highlands, but police said Little was not living at that address.

Little was convicted of rape in Indiana in 1984. Prosecutors in his hometown of Marion, Ind., said the conviction was overturned eight years later by the Indiana Supreme Court, but that Little then pleaded guilty rather than face a retrial. He was released from prison and moved to California in 1992.

In Sacramento, Little's record shows four drug-related convictions between 1992 and 1997. Two of them landed him in prison. He also was convicted in 2006 for failing to register as a sex offender. He got a 90-day jail term and three years probation.

Despite his criminal past, Little made a name for himself over the past seven years for his food giveaway programs around town. He started his programs in midtown at Fremont Park and last year moved to the site on Martin Luther King Boulevard.

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Q: What happened to the man and his wife who starved to death the man's young son? - Debbie, Sacramento

A: A man previously convicted as a child molester was sentenced July 7, 2006, in Sacramento Superior Court to 75 years and eight months to life for starving and beating to death his 12-year-old son.

"It is so fundamental to human nature to love your own children," Judge Gary S. Mullen said in a voice cracking with emotion.

"Even the most hardened criminals in our prisons can't imagine how a father can do this," Mullen said to Andrew Anthony Cejas (photo left from his trial), now 42.

Cejas was sentenced for the murder of Christopher Cejas of North Carolina, who lost 35 pounds over a four-month summer stay with his father and stepmother in Sacramento.

Trial evidence showed the boy, whom his father ridiculed for being overweight, was kept from eating by being handcuffed to doorknobs and an entryway post in their Watt Avenue apartment. He was fed a tablespoon of electrolyte-containing replacement fluid a day.

When he was found Aug. 21, 2002, he had more than 100 bruises with 74 major injuries, including a severed liver, torn kidney and bleeding in the brain.

For more than four days the boy was whipped with belts and pounded with a golf club. A video camera poised near his bed recorded his every move at night.

The 33-year-old stepmother, Kathryn Elizabeth Potter, who was sentenced on April 7, 2006, to 15 years to life, stood by and watched as the elder Cejas carried out the relentless whippings because she hated and was disgusted by the boy, court records show.

At the time of the murder, Cejas was on probation for beating Potter. In 1993, he was convicted of two counts of sexually molesting a 9-year-old girl.

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Q: What happened to a man who killed a law student in the 1990s because the thought the victim was going to marry the man's old girlfriend? - Alex, Sacramento

A: Glenn Fitzgerald Padgett, proclaiming his innocence to the end, was sentenced on March 20, 1997, to a life term in prison for the murder of a man he thought was stealing his teenage sweetheart, The Bee reported.

"I stated my innocence, my position, during trial. I will do this time for crimes I did not commit," Padgett, an aspiring actor, said before he was sentenced.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Thomas M. Cecil, who noted that the defendant didn't exhibit a shred of remorse, sentenced Padgett, now 46, to consecutive terms totaling 32 years and eight months to life.

A jury convicted Padgett Feb. 18, 1997, of five charges, including the murder of Kamal Ramsey, 33; burglary; arson; and grand theft.

Ramsey, an engineer and legislative analyst at the state Department of Transportation, was also attending classes at McGeorge Law School at night.

Ramsey's beaten and stabbed body was found Dec. 15, 1994, amid the smoldering remains of his North Highlands home.

Testimony showed that Ramsey was killed the night of Dec. 12, 1994, and that three days later Padgett returned to Ramsey's home to steal his belongings and to torch the place to cover up the murder. Investigators later recovered Ramsey's things in Padgett's downtown apartment.

Deputy District Attorney Rob Gold argued that Padgett was obsessed with his sweetheart of 10 years, who was a law school study partner of Ramsey.

Padgett killed because he thought Ramsey was going to take her away from him, even though Ramsey was engaged to another woman, the prosecutor said. Ramsey was killed 11 days before he was to wed.

During trial, Padgett, who has appeared in some music videos and stage productions and was known as "Julian," testified he was innocent. He claimed to have never met Ramsey.

When asked about Ramsey's belongings, Padgett said he had bought them from a friend, not knowing they were stolen.

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Q: What was the final disposition of the charges against Anne Ichord, a teacher at Pioneer High School in Woodland who was charged with molesting a student? - Anonymous, Yolo County

A: Ichord, now 34, pleaded no contest to two counts of statutory rape, one a felony and one a misdemeanor, on June 12, 2008, in Yolo County Superior Court, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Ichord was sentenced to three years probation, a DA's spokesman said. If she completed various conditions, she was to be allowed to withdraw her plea to the felony count after 18 months, he said.

On Jan. 25, Ichord met the conditions and her felony plea was withdrawn, the spokesman said. She remains on probation for the misdemeanor count.

Ichord, a former history and physical education teacher at Pioneer High School, was originally charged with six felony charges involving alleged unlawful sexual behavior with a student, The Bee reported.

Woodland police told The Bee at the time of her arrest that Ichord was suspected of having sex with a student on and off campus. Police said the boy was a student in one of Ichord's history classes.

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Q: I saw the question on Troy Adam Ashmus who killed Marcie Davis, but I think her father met a tragic end too. Is that right? - JoAnne, Sacramento

A: Robert "Bob" Davis, whose daughter was found raped and killed in a Sacramento Park in 1984, was shot to death in 1988 in a confrontation with a tow truck driver, The Bee reported.

Davis' life had spun out of control after his daughter, 7-year-old Marcie Davis, was murdered in Santa Anita Park. Troy Adam Ashmus was convicted of the girl's murder and is on California's death row.

Friends and family told The Bee that the murder changed Bob Davis from an outspoken, congenial and enthusiastic man to an inconsolable and angry one.

On the afternoon of May 25, 1988, Davis and another man were beating a man and then attacked a tow-truck driver who came to the man's aid in the parking lot of the Country Club Plaza shopping center on Watt Avenue, police said.

A second tow-truck driver arrived and shot Davis to death after the driver said Davis and the other man moved toward him.

Tim Frawley, the prosecutor who sent Ashmus to death row, remembered Davis as "a volcano smoldering."

"His life went into a tailspin after Ashmus killed his daughter," Frawley said. "He might have been held together kind of loosely to begin with, but at the time prior to his daughter's death he was making a good life for himself and his family."

Frawley said the burly man burned with rage -- enough so that the judge ordered him frisked each time he entered the courtroom to watch the Ashmus trial.

"There was always concern that Bob might blow up and go after Ashmus in the courtroom, " Frawley said.

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Q: Would you please provide an update regarding Raul Reyes Jr.? - Anonymous, El Dorado County

A: Raul Rodriguez Reyes Jr. (photo left), now 21, pleaded no contest to two felonies in the shooting death of Angela Vasquez.

In a plea agreement on May 6, 2009, in El Dorado County Superior Court, Reyes of Sacramento entered the plea to assault with a deadly weapon likely to produce great bodily injury, discharging a firearm from a vehicle and enhancements to the charges, court records show.

In exchange, a first-degree murder charge against Reyes was dropped.

Reyes received sentences that totaled 12 years and 8 months in prison. A judge ordered the individual sentences to run consecutively.

Vasquez, 17, of Sacramento was found shot to death July 21, 2007, in a Chevrolet Suburban parked in El Dorado Hills.

Authorities believe Reyes was driving the Suburban. They said he placed the original 911 call, The Bee reported.

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Q: In the late '70s or early '80s, a girl was found sexually assaulted and murdered in Santa Anita Park. What happened in that case? - Anonymous, Sacramento

Troy Adam Ashmus, now 48, is on California's death row for the May 19, 1984, rape and murder in a Sacramento County park of 7-year-old Marcie Davis, prison records and Bee reports show. (Ashmus is at right in photo taken at his preliminary hearing.)

Ashmus, a dropout from San Juan High School and a one-time carnival roustabout, alternately lived with his grandmother in Citrus Heights and in Santa Anita Park.

He confessed to leading Marcie to a secluded place in the park. Ashmus said he then raped her.

After the assault, he crammed three plastic wrappers and the child's underpants in her mouth.

The girl died of asphyxiation, investigators said.

Santa Anita Park is just east of Howe Avenue Park, where Marcy, 7, her 10-year-old brother and another boy had gone to play.

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Q: Two years ago a man named Jose Duarte was arrested for murder and arson at an apartment in Sacramento. What was the end result of that case? - Anonymous, Citrus Heights

A: Jose Camdelario Duarte, 23, is scheduled to go on trial Sept. 9 on murder and arson charges in Sacramento Superior Court, according to court records.

Duarte is accused of killing Alicia Ray, 20, and setting fire on Aug. 10, 2008, to a South Natomas apartment where the victim was staying with a friend, The Bee reported.

Firefighters discovered her body after extinguishing a blaze in the apartment in the 2000 block of West El Camino Avenue.

It appeared the victim had been strangled. No motive has been publicly released.

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Ask Sacto911: Sacramento man convicted after shooting suspected vandal

Q: About 20 years ago, a man in South Land Park killed a vandal who had slashed his tires. What happened to the man? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: John Robert Thurs, now 46, was convicted of hunting down and fatally shooting in 1995 a man who he believed slashed his tires in South Land Park, The Bee reported.

Thurs (the man at left in photo taken at his trial) was sentenced on Sept. 15, 1995, to a prison term of 65 years to life, under California's "three strikes law."

The maximum sentence means Thurs won't be eligible for parole until his 89th birthday, The Bee reported.

In July 1995, a Sacramento Superior Court jury convicted Thurs of involuntary manslaughter in the Jan. 25 slaying of Eric Grimble, 23.

Grimble, who had a history of psychiatric problems and vandalism, was dressed in all black clothing when was fatally shot at 3 a.m. near bushes in the South Land Park Hills neighborhood where both men lived.

Thurs contended that when he shot Grimble with a 30-30 hunting rifle he was acting in self defense. He said Grimble lunged at him with a kitchen knife. Thurs claimed the same knife had been used to puncture his car tires earlier that night.

Thurs was also convicted of a charge of being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm. His last convictions represented his fourth and fifth felony convictions on charges of burglary, robbery and assault.

Sacramento Superior Court James I. Morris was urged by Thurs' lawyer, Angelo Vitale, to sentence his client to a single 25-years-to-life term in prison. The judge chose the maximum punishment in part because of "threats leveled against the prosecutor in court."

Upon his conviction, Thurs turned in court to Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Albert Locher and told him "You're going to have a dead DA." The comment was loud enough to be picked up by television cameras.

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Q: Was the murderer of two teenage girls named Melissa and Tina in 1984 ever caught and convicted? - Anonymous, Carmichael

A Placer County Superior Court jury acquitted a Carmichael man on Aug. 5, 1988, of the 1984 bludgeoning deaths in Sierra County of two North Highlands teenagers, the Bee reported.

No one else was ever prosecuted in the deaths of Tina Shrader and Melissa Mattingly, both 17, according to Bee reports.

The jury foreman said the "jury was just not convinced that the prosecution proved without a reasonable doubt" that the 34-year-old suspect was guilty.

The suspect was manager of the North Highlands doughnut shop where Mattingly worked.

The case based on circumstantial evidence was moved to an Auburn courtroom because of pretrial publicity in Sierra County, where the heavily decomposed bodies of Shrader and Mattingly were discovered July 4, 1984, by a fisherman near the Little Truckee River.

The suspect admitted on the witness stand that he took Shrader and Mattingly to the north shore of Lake Tahoe on Memorial Day weekend 1984 but testified the girls left that area in the company of an unidentified motorist who was driving a car with out-of-state license plates.

He denied having taken them to the secluded riverside spot north of Truckee where their nude bodies were found lying side by side. A pathologist testified the backs of the victims' skulls had been crushed by a blunt object.

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Q: Was the murder of James Ramirez ever solved? - Concerned Citizen, Sacramento

A: Sacramento police officers announced in April 2009 that they arrested three men for the 2006 killing of the 18-year-old Ramirez.

The three suspects - 23-year-old Terry Alexander, 31-year-old Alex Brown and 31-year-old David Carrera - already were in custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail on unrelated charges, police said.

All are facing murder charges. Their next court date is in August.

Ramirez, who had recently graduated from McClatchy High School at the time of his death, was fatally shot at the front door of his South Land Park home on Jan. 3, 2006.

Before the shooting, the suspects kidnapped two brothers from their home near the intersection of 18th Avenue and 21st Street and drove them to Ramirez's home in the 4500 block of Francis Court, according to police.

The brothers were close friends of Ramirez's, police said at the time.

One of the kidnapped brothers summoned Ramirez to the door, where he was killed. One of the brothers was left at the home with Ramirez, and the other was dropped off in the 2100 block of 15th Avenue, according to police.

Following the arrests, police did not release any details regarding possible motivation.

All three suspects have criminal records in Sacramento County, according to court records.

Those records show the three men were in custody in connection with their most recent alleged crimes: a 2006 case in which they each face three charges of robbery, three charges of assault with a deadly weapon, six charges of oral copulation and three charges of penetration by a foreign object.

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Q: At least 10 years ago a waitress in the Pocket named Dawn was kidnapped and murdered. What is the status of the matter? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Semanulepoto Milo, now 48, was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole and 25-years-to-life on April 24, 2000, for the killing of Dawn Marie Perrigo (photo left), 21, according to court records and Bee reports.

Milo was convicted of the Oct. 11, 1998, robbery and gunshot slaying of Perrigo, a clerk at the Earthgrains Baking Co.'s thrift shop. Her body was discovered in the women's restroom at the store on Wilbur Way near Gerber Road in south Sacramento.

She had been shot five times by Milo's 9 mm Glock pistol, and about $430 was missing from the bakery's cash register, according to the probation report.

Investigators were directed toward Milo by employees who remembered that the company driver sometimes slept in his car outside the store when he was "having trouble at home," using the bathroom to take sponge baths.

He had his own key to the facility, the report said, and there was no indication there had been a break-in.

With a record of two prior convictions in 1986 and three additional arrests in 1990 and 1991, Milo was a suspect for several months before he was arrested on suspicion of murder on March 17, 1999.

By that time, experts had matched hammer and ejection marks made by Milo's gun to shells found at the homicide scene.

Milo initially denied owning a 9 mm weapon but ultimately turned the Glock over to police with the barrel replaced, apparently in an attempt to thwart a ballistics comparison.

A cheaper, after-market barrel produced in Korea had replaced the Glock's original barrel, and it had been crudely painted black to match, the probation report said. Some of the new paint jammed the gun's mechanism, causing it to misfire when tested.

Milo continued to deny responsibility for the killing. He told probation officers, "I know for a fact I am innocent."

Evidence produced at trial suggested that Milo persuaded a former jail mate to testify on his behalf by promising the inmate a rendezvous with his sister-in-law in Hawaii.

Jurors rejected the inmate's testimony as a fabrication concocted by Milo, and the inmate subsequently recanted, admitting to investigators that his story was a lie, the report stated.

Judge John V. Stroud, who presided over Milo's trial, pronounced the sentence, imposing the mandated life-without-parole for murder committed during a robbery plus 25 years to life, to be served consecutively, for the use of a firearm causing death.

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By Queenie Wong
qwong@sacbee.com

Firefighters saved a woman from drowning Sunday evening after they spotted her struggling to cling to an empty raft, according to fire officials.

The firefighters were returning by boat from an emergency call at a spot known as Gilligan's Island on the American River when they noticed an empty raft behind the boat and a woman drowning, said Capt. Christian Pebbles, spokesman for the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District. Gilligan's Island, a popular party spot, is located behind Hagan Community Park in Rancho Cordova.

A rescuer pulled the woman, who was not wearing a life vest, out of the water, Pebbles said.

The woman had swallowed a large amount of water and told rescuers "I thought I was going to die."

She was transported to the UC Davis Medical Center for treatment. Officials at the center declined to comment on the woman's status.

Pebbles said the woman was sober.

Call The Bee's Queenie Wong, (916) 321-1108.

Q: In the '80s, a little girl was raped and murdered, and her body washed up around 16th Street. What happened in that case? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Thomas C. Bolin, now 54, was convicted of raping and murdering Crystal Dawn Reid, 16, The Bee reported. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The girl was killed sometime on the night of Oct. 4, 1981 or in the early morning of Oct. 5, investigators said.

The victim was raped, kicked, beaten and strangled. Her body was dumped into the American River near Highway 160 and the body washed up near 16th Street in Sacramento.

Originally, Sacramento police arrested Bolin and Roy Dean Daniel and charged them with murder and rape. Charges against Daniel were dropped by the district attorney in exchange for his testimony against Bolin.

According to testimony, Daniel, then 18, and Bolin met Crystal for the first time at an Oct. 4 party in North Sacramento. Crystal became bored and suggested Daniel, Bolin and she leave.

They drove to nearby Woodlake Park and then drove to a point on the American River just north of Highway 160 where Crystal eventually was murdered.

Sacramento police arrested both men shortly after the girl's body was found.

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Q: Was the Thomas Hebeisn murder ever solved? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: The case remains unsolved, police said.

Hebeisn, 46, who police said led a quiet life, was found bludgeoned to death April 21, 1996, off the American River bike trail.

Hebeisn's car, a 1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass, was found the next day in the 3300 block of Lerick Road near Watt and Fulton avenues.

The car was unlocked with the keys in the ignition, police said.

Detectives told The Bee shortly after the body was found that they believe Hebeisn was killed elsewhere by several blows to the back of the head and then dumped under Highway 160 near Northgate Boulevard. Hebeisn's wallet was not on him.

Police said Hebeisn likely had been dead one to 1-1/2 days when his body was discovered.

Hebeisn had lost his job in electronics at Packard Bell in November and since had been looking for a job and doing some construction work. He lived alone in an apartment at the Warren Oaks Apartments on Fair Oaks Boulevard.

Hebeisn was described by detectives as a quiet man with a modest lifestyle and a love of fishing.

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Q: Were the slayings of two people outside a North Sacramento beauty salon a couple of years ago ever solved? - John, Sacramento

A: Miguel Carranza (photo left), 39, is due to go on trial July 22 for alleging shooting to death his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend in 2007, according to Sacramento Superior Court records.

Police said that Martha Yesenia Lopez-Pacheco, 29, and her Jezer Lopez, 32, were gunned down on Nov. 8, 2007 as they headed home from the beauty salon where Lopez-Pacheco worked, The Bee reported.

Carranza had been accused of raping, stabbing and threatening the woman, according to a 2005 petition she filed for a restraining order.

Lopez-Pacheco left behind a 9-year-old son; Lopez had four young children.

According to police, the couple's killer waited for them to emerge from the salon on Northgate Boulevard before shooting them.

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Q: In 1986, I believe, a teen named Daniel Murphy was shot and killed in the Sunrise area. What was the outcome of that case? - Anonymous, Rancho Cordova

A: A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced John Fred Lira to 19 years to life for the April 21, 1990 murder of Murphy, The Bee reported.

Lira, now 40, is still in prison, records indicate.

The killing of Murphy, 19, followed a water-and-Pepsi fight at a Citrus Heights Burger King.

According to testimony, Lira was "cruising" the parking lot at the Citrus Heights Burger King on Greenback Lane with his sister Angie and another teenage girl.

He was carrying a sawed-off shotgun tucked under the dashboard, and the girls were spraying other people with water from a squirt gun they'd found in the street earlier that night.

Witnesses said the girls in Lira's car sprayed a pickup, and Murphy jumped out of the truck and went up to the passenger side of the Lira vehicle twice, the first time yelling, the second time shaking a Pepsi bottle in his hand.

As fizz from the soft drink sprayed Lira's car, inside and out, Lira raised the shotgun and fired, striking Murphy in the chest.

One witness testified at trial that Lira laughed and bragged about shooting someone shortly after the killing.

Lira claimed he was acting in self-defense, testifying that he was afraid he and his passengers were about to be jumped by the youths who had come up to his car. He said he didn't even know he'd hit anyone, or that the victim was Murphy, until some time later.

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Q: What happened to the so-called "Batgirl" killer who murdered a man for his car around 1994? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Michelle Cummiskey is still in prison, records indicate. A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced her to 25 years to life in prison for the March 5, 1991 slaying of Philip Inhofer.

Cummiskey, now 39, was dubbed "Batgirl" by investigators because of a tattoo of bats circling her upper left arm and a tattoo of a vampire bite, complete with blood droplets, on her neck.

Cummiskey stabbed Inhofer 32 times, bludgeoned him with a blunt object and stuffed his body into the closet of his South Natomas mobile home on March 5, 1991. She placed a plastic bag over his head and took his red 1975 Mercedes.

Sacramento County homicide inspectors, with the help of the FBI, sought Cummiskey, a former prostitute at the Mustang Ranch brothel outside Reno, who'd met Inhofer through a Sacramento escort service.

She was apprehended two months after the slaying in Biloxi, Miss., with Inhofer's Mercedes, which she had painted.

Cummiskey was eligible for the death penalty, but in a plea bargain, she admitted to first-degree murder.

Prosecutors said it was uncertain whether Cummiskey would have received the death penalty or been convicted of first-degree murder because she claimed to be on mind-altering drugs at the time of the slaying.

Cummiskey will be eligible for parole in 2011.

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Q: What ever happened with the Sean Cassinelli case? Did they ever find who killed him? I went to high school with him and it had a major impact on our neighborhood. - Anonymous, Citrus Heights

A: On July 22, 1994, Richard Avalos, 20, the last of five defendants in the July 1991 "code of silence" killing of Citrus Heights teenager Shawn Cassinelli, was sentenced to two years in prison, according to Bee reports.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Thomas M. Cecil pronounced sentence on Avalos, who was found guilty in March 1994 of being an accessory to murder by deliberately misleading sheriff's detectives investigating the Cassinelli killing.

Nick Nathaniel "Nate" Morelos admitted stabbing the 16-year-old after a bottle allegedly was thrown at Avalos' car on Old Auburn Road. Morelos, a passenger in the vehicle, was sentenced to 15 years to life.

Prosecutor Brian Myers charged that Avalos and other witnesses instigated a cover-up to protect Morelos, delaying an arrest by weeks. At his trial, Avalos testified that he didn't want to be a snitch.

The other three defendants, all juveniles, received 90-day sentences after pleading guilty to accessory charges.

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Q: Around 20 years ago John Arana was murdered. He was a friend of mine. Was that crime ever solved? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: A suspect in Arana's homicide was arrested Jan. 6 of this year and is awaiting trail in Sacramento Superior Court, according to court records and Bee reports.

Michael J. Peterson (photo left), 44, was extradited from Missouri, where he was in prison for an unrelated crime. Authorities matched his DNA with a DNA profile developed from evidence in the 1992 slaying of 40-year-old John Arana.

Arana died from stab wounds Nov. 5, 1992, at his home in the 5400 block of 10th Avenue. A few days after his death, his stolen truck was found about a mile from his home.

Arana, who lived alone and was a part-time driver for a print shop, was discovered by a friend who dropped by the victim's home.

Peterson was on parole at the time.

Peterson is in the Sacramento County jail, awaiting trial on murder and robbery charges.

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Q: Was the murder of Anthony J. Galati ever solved? He was one of my best friends. - Kevin Bailey, Sacramento

A. Jeremy Phillip Puckett was convicted of murdering Galati (photo of Galati left is from DMV) and sentenced on March 14, 2002 to life in prison without the chance of parole. Israel Sept was convicted as an accomplice and received an 11-year prison term in 2002.

An earlier version of this story gave incorrect information.

A motorist driving along White Rock Road found Galati's body on March 14, 1998 in a Rancho Cordova field. Galati, 18, of Sacramento County was shot execution-style, investigators said. His wallet was missing.

Galati's smoldering Pontiac Firebird was discovered by a patrol officer about 1:30 a.m. March 16 in the 3500 block of Mather Field Road.

A Sacramento County sheriff's spokesman said the car might have been burned to destroy evidence.

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By Melody Gutierrez
mgutierrez@sacbee.com

A man who witnesses said appeared to be delusional after acting bizarrely in a Roseville neighborhood was booked Sunday at Placer County Jail on suspicion of burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest.

Bail for Israel Williams III, 31, of Sacramento, has been set at $50,000.

Williams was taken into custody after police responded to several reports around 9 a.m. Saturday in the 600 block of Portside Circle. Witnesses said Williams was yelling at himself, jumping over fences and climbing onto roofs.

Williams allegedly ran from police and forced entry into a house in the 600 block of Lyndhurst Avenue, where police said he grabbed an unloaded rifle. A man in his early 20s inside the house struggled with the suspect over the rifle and was clubbed in the face with it, according to a news release from the Roseville Police Department.

Officers said they heard yelling and glass breaking and entered the home, where they used stun guns, batons and bean bag rounds to subdue the suspect.

The resident of the home broken into was transported to Sutter Roseville Medical Center with minor injuries. Three or four officers and a Placer County Sherrif's dog received minor injuries, the news release said.

Williams received major injuries and was transported to Sutter Roseville Medical Center before booked Sunday into the Placer County Jail.

Call The Bee's Melody Gutierrez, (916) 326-5521.

Q: What is the status of Caleb Murr who killed his cousin and buried her in the yard? - S, Sacramento

A: Murr (1999 photo left), now 26, is still in prison, records indicate.

When he was 16, he raped his teenage cousin, hit her over the head with a baseball bat and buried her alive in a backyard in Sacramento, according to Bee reports.

In a plea deal, the Del Paso Heights teenager pleaded no contest to raping his 18-year-old cousin, on March 6, 1999. Murr had been facing murder and other charges.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced him to 42 years to life in prison.

A prosecutor said Murr would not be eligible for parole until 2022.

Murr, who has a history of psychiatric problems, was prosecuted as an adult after a judge found him unfit for the juvenile justice system. Murr told mental health experts that he killed his cousin to rid himself of demons.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Who was responsible for the death of a woman found in a pond on a ranch years ago? - Wondering, Elk Grove

A: Danny Raymond Steele, now 61, pleaded no contest on Dec. 8, 2005 to voluntary manslaughter for killing a Rancho Cordova woman, according to Sacramento Superior Court records and Bee reports.

Steele of Wilton received a 10-year sentence for killing Phyllis Dianne Elame, 53, hiding her body in a ranch pond. Elame's mother reported her missing on Feb. 8, 2001.

Steele fled after the killing and was arrested almost a year later in Reno.

According to the Sacramento Sheriff's Department, Steele was suspected of shooting the woman and hiding her body in a pond on his father's land near the Cosumnes River. The body was found June 7, 2001.

No motive was revealed.

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Q: What happened to the killer of Sonja Vasquez and her unborn baby? - Angela, Sacramento

A: Freddie Charles Leyba Jr., now 48, was sentenced to 25 years to life in 1994 for the murder of Sonja Vasquez, 25, who was a few weeks pregnant. Leyba was the father.

Vasquez's body was found dumped near the Fulton Avenue on ramp of Business 80 in December 1993. Evidence showed she probably was strangled into unconsciousness and then suffocated on a sock stuffed into her mouth.

Leyba received an additional life term for the earlier attempted murder of a man, who was shot during an unrelated argument.

Leyba "will be 68 years old when he first becomes eligible for parole," Deputy District Attorney Tony Lewis told the Bee at the time of the sentencing.

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Q: What is the status of Aaron Crisp and his father's murder?

A: The slayings of Crisp, 15, and his father, Michael Gregory Crisp, 48, on Oct. 31, 2007 have not been solved.

The two were found dead inside their North Highlands home about 9:20 p.m. that night. They were killed with a shotgun, according to Bee reports.

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By Chelsea Phua
cphua@sacbee.com

A 32-year-old man on Monday night forced a standoff with Sacramento police after he allegedly shot a nail gun at them, prompting them to fire their weapons, before he barricaded himself in a detached Oak Park garage for two hours.

The man, who has not been identified, was eventually taken into custody about 8:30 p.m. with multiple gunshot wounds, police said. A K9 dog had also bit him.

Department spokesman Konrad von Schoech said the stand-off began shortly after 6 p.m., when officers arrived in the 3100 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Earlier in the day, about 3:20 p.m. officers had responded to the same area to reports of a man brandishing a crossbow on the street and threatening the 911 caller. They could not find the man then, but took a report and left.

Officers returned in the evening when the man was spotted again. This time, officers found him in the garage of a home on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near Seventh Avenue. The man was confrontational and brandished a crossbow and a sledgehammer at officers, police said.

Officers deployed a Taser at the man, but it didn't stop him. The man allegedly picked up a nail gun and fired at officers, police said.

Fearing for their safety, two officers shot at the man with their duty weapons, von Schoech said. He then retreated back to the garage, where the standoff began. Police were unclear for a while if he was hurt by the gunfire.

Officers from the SWAT and hostage negotiations teams were called to the scene. The SWAT team used a pole camera, which showed the man lying on the floor of the garage with one hand underneath his body. Officers asked the suspect to show his hands, but he did not comply. Officers feared he had a weapon, so they sent a K9 dog inside the garage. The dog bit him, forcing him to reveal his hidden hand. He was then taken into custody.

Police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong said the suspect was conscious and talking when paramedics took him to the UC Davis Medical Center.

The two officers involved in the shooting, both three-year veterans, were placed on paid administrative leave as a matter of policy.

Police cordoned off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from Broadway to Ninth Avenue for several hours, as curious onlookers and neighbors evacuated from homes near the standoff gathered outside the crime scene tapes.

The suspect's family members were on the scene, talking to officers. They declined media interviews.

William Thomas, who lives next door to where the suspect had barricaded himself, said before the gunfire, he saw officers in his back yard through his bathroom window.

He asked if everything was all right, and the officer told him, "Just get back in the house and stay back."

A few minutes later, Thomas said he heard the guns go off and he fell flat onto the floor in his house with his face down.

"They lit that house up," Thomas said, adding that soon after police asked him to evacuate his house.

Monifa Gaines, who lives on Seventh Avenue a few houses away from where the man barricaded himself, returned home from work to find several police cars in front of her tidy front yard. She was not able to get inside the house, but made the best of the situation by trying to get pictures of the SWAT team's van with her cell phone.

She said she's just glad that her two children, ages 14 and 12, are with their grandmother.

"I was looking forward to a hot bubble bath," Gaines said. "Now I'm sitting out here watching 'COPS' live."

Call The Bee's Chelsea Phua, (916) 321-1132.

Q: What happened to the woman who drove her car down a sidewalk in Reno in the '80s, killing six people? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Priscilla Ford died on Nevada's death row from natural causes in January 2005, according to Bee reports. She was 75.

Ford killed six people and injured 23 others when she drove her Lincoln Continental down a crowded Reno sidewalk on Thanksgiving Day 1980. One of the injured later died.

Medical witnesses said Ford suffered from a variety of mental illnesses, but prosecutors maintained she knew the difference between right and wrong.

Ford claimed she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, but was found competent to stand trial.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened in the case of the man who disappeared just before his Garden Highway restaurant was sent to open? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Henry Moreno's disappearance more than 11 years ago is still a mystery, according to Bee reports.

In August 1998, Moreno (at left with his daughter in photo taken in 1998), 46, was on the brink of opening his dream restaurant on the Sacramento River. He was seen at Home Depot on Aug. 6, and at a local cafe he frequented. Then he vanished.

There have been no bank account or credit card changes, no cell phone activity. His car, a 1997 white Nissan Pathfinder with a California license plate of 3VLP084, has never been found.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Bee staff and Diana Lambert:

A 13-year-old girl missing since Saturday has been found in good health, the Sacramento Police Department reports.

Tatiyanna Conrad, who was last seen at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Occidental Drive apartment complex where she lives with family, was found shortly after 6 p.m., according to a department news release.

Q: Was anyone arrested for the murder of Jessica Smith in her apartment in Sacramento in the mid '90s? - Concerned, Fairfield

A: A Sacramento Superior Court jury convicted Correll Hicks Jr. of the Sept. 10, 2002 murder of Smith because she asked him to baby sit their child, The Bee reported.

Hicks (at left in 2002 photo), now 30, was sentenced on Sept. 11, 2004 to 26 years to life in prison.

Hicks, a man with a history of domestic violence, killed the 27-year-old Smith as she was trying to leave him, according to trial testimony.

Smith, a nursing student, was found dead at her U Street apartment in midtown Sacramento. She had been strangled and 6 inches of a towel was jammed down her throat.

Hicks, at 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, stood 9 inches taller than Smith and outweighed her by 100 pounds. He erupted into a rage after Smith asked him to baby sit their child on Hicks' birthday, trial evidence showed.

He was found by police in the apartment with Smith. He had slashed his wrists, stabbed his abdomen with scissors and attempted to hang himself, his attorney said.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Was anyone convicted in the murder of Jill Alamo? - Colleen, Sacramento

A: No, but a 38-year-old man is scheduled to go trail this month for her murder in Sacramento Superior Court, according to court records and Bee reports.

Augustine Munoz' trial is set for May in the 2007 slaying of Alamo, his ex-wife, whose body was found dumped in a ditch, according to authorities.

Munoz was arrested in November 2009 at the Sacramento County main jail, where he had been in custody since the body of the 42-year-old Alamo was found Nov. 8, 2007.

At the time of Alamo's killing, Munoz was out of jail on bail, charged with violating a domestic violence restraining order. His bail was revoked after Alamo's body was found in a ditch in the 9900 block of Elder Creek Road.

A neighbor reported Alamo, the mother of four, missing in late October 2007. Deputies found signs of forced entry and a struggle in her home.

One of her daughters told The Bee shortly after the death that Alamo feared Munoz after divorcing him the previous year.

She had lost weight and often asked a neighbor to watch the house while she took naps.

According to Sacramento Superior Court records, Munoz was charged in July 2002 with domestic violence against Alamo and battery against her daughter.

He was charged with spousal battery and violating a restraining order just a few months before Alamo's death, according to the records.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Is mass murderer Juan Corona still alive? - Anonymous, Yuba City

A: Corona (left in a 1998 photo), 76, is alive and in prison. Corona is serving 25 concurrent prison terms of 25 years to life for the murders in 1971 of 25 transient farm workers.

Their bodies were found buried in shallow graves on two farms in the Marysville-Yuba City area, where Corona worked as a labor contractor.

Corona was convicted in 1973, and again in a 1982 retrial.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Was Jill Richardson killed by Morris Solomon Jr.? - Tina, Sacramento

A: Jill Idell Richardson, also known as Magelia Cooper, of Sacramento was not one of the serial killer's official victims, according to Bee reports.

Richardson was 14 years old when she was reported missing in the early 1980s. Her disappearance was investigated as possibly linked to Solomon's killing spree, but no link was established and she was never found.

Solomon (at left in 1992 photo from his trial), now 54, was found guilty in 1992 of four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and five sexual assaults, all committed during a span of about 12 months in 1986 and 1987.

Five of the murder victims were found buried in the yards of houses where Solomon had lived or worked as a handyman. The sixth was "discovered" by Solomon stuffed into the closet of a home he was refurbishing.

Solomon's officially recognized victims were Linda Vitela, 24; Sheila Jacox, 16; Yolanda Johnson, 22; Maria Apodaca, 18; Sharon Massey, 29; and Cherie Washington, 26.

Solomon is on death row at San Quentin Prison.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: How long did the man convicted of killing Bill Withrow spend in prison? - Fritz, Fair Oaks

A: The Bee was unable to determine the number of years Bobby Gene Henry spent in prison over the 1988 slaying because the court proceedings involve two trials and a finally a plea agreement, according to court records and Bee reports.

On May 26, 1999, a federal appellate court threw out the 1990 conviction of Henry for killing 40-year-old Bill Withrow, a prominent real estate broker in Fair Oaks.

The court said the conviction of Henry, now 63, was illegal because of what it called the "slippery and illegal tactics" of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department in getting Henry to confess, The Bee reported.

The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals freed Henry from prison, where he had been held since his conviction.

Henry was convicted of second-degree in July 1990 at his second trial and sentenced to 17 years to life in prison.

A jury in February 1990 ended in a deadlock with an 11-1 vote to acquit Henry on a charge of first-degree murder, The Bee reported.

On Jan. 16, 2001, court records show Henry pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Was their an arrest made in the death of LaKishia Montue in 1996? - Tina, Sacramento

A: Stephen Stowers was sentenced on Feb. 3, 2000, to 35 years to life in prison for murdering Montue, his girlfriend, after she received a $1.4 million insurance settlement from a car accident, The Bee reported.

"This was cold-blooded," Sacramento Superior Court Judge James L. Long said of the execution-style slaying of 19-year-old Montue, whose body was discovered by a Meadowview motorist on April 14, 1996.

At Stowers' trial, witnesses said a car crash that killed Montue's 17-month-old daughter led to the million-dollar insurance settlement.

Testimony showed the insurance pact, worked out three months before Montue's murder, provided about $3,000 per month over 30 years.

Weeks after she started receiving the money, Montue left her home and family in Sacramento. She took her then-3-year-old son and moved to Las Vegas to live with Stowers' mother.

Shortly before her murder, evidence showed, Montue completed a divorce from her husband - who was serving time in state prison - and signed a will making Stowers' mother her sole life insurance beneficiary.

Three days later, Montue was dead, her body spotted by a passing motorist along a stretch of Freeport Boulevard north of Meadowview Road.

Montue was killed within 50 minutes after arriving in Sacramento on a red-eye flight from Las Vegas that touched down about 3 a.m.

The judge said there was "overwhelming evidence" to convict the 30-year-old Stowers, including testimony from a jailhouse informant and a man Stowers was accused of attempting to solicit to murder Montue.

Charles Montue, the victim's grandfather, also spoke in court. He told the judge that Stowers made a life out of using women.

"He used and manipulated young women instead of getting a job," Charles Montue said.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened in the 1991 murder of a family in Land Park? - pd, Sacramento

A: The slayings remain unsolved of 33-year-old Mick Jacobs, his 31-year-old wife, Marcy, and their 9-year-old daughter, Jennifer, in their Land Park home on Jan. 15, 1990, court records and Bee reports indicate.

Each died of multiple gunshot wounds, The Bee reported.

Police speculated that the Jacobs may have known their attackers because there was no sign of forced entry. An empty safe found in the garage may have been what the assailants were looking for.

Q: Was the shooting death of Chateamer Hornes of Sacramento ever solved? - Concerned Sacramento

A: The slaying of Hornes, 27, is unsolved, court records and Bee reports indicate. He was fatally shot in front of a Meadowview area home on Sept. 3, 2003.

Hornes was shot several times just before 11 p.m., in the 7500 block of Eddylee Way, police said. He was taken to UC Davis Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

An investigation indicated the shooting occurred during a confrontation between Hornes and another individual, police said.

Q: Was anyone arrested in the killing of Valentin Carrillo around 1996? - Jessie, Sacramento

A: The slaying of Valentin Cardenas Carrillo, 17, is unsolved, court records and Bee reports indicate.

His body was found Feb. 22, 1996 in the Snodgrass Slough along the Sacramento River, The Bee reported.

Sacramento County coroner's officials used fingerprints to identify the body. The victim, who was 17 at the time of his disappearance Feb. 2, died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head, officials said.

Officials said the body may have been in the water one to three weeks.

The teenager was last seen leaving a friend's home in the Valley Hi area.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened in the murder case of Frank Champion Jr. of Elk Grove? - RC, Elk Grove

A: The Oct. 21, 2003, shooting of Champion, 26, is unsolved, according to court records and Bee reports.

Champion was killed in front of a food market on Stockton Boulevard after Frank Champion, 26, and another man exchanged words with two other men and a woman, said sheriff's Sgt. R.L. Davis. (Artist's sketch at left is of the suspect. The sketch was released shortly after Champion was killed.)

One of the men fired shots, killing Champion and severely wounding Champion's companion.

A suspect was arrested in the shooting but was released because the shooting survivor could not identify him, investigators said.

Sacramento sheriff's officials described the shooter as in his early 20s, 6 feet tall, thin, dark-skinned and wearing a red nylon jacket. He and a shorter man, also in his early 20s, fled with the woman driving an old two-door car with faded green or red paint with a white strip in the center of the hood.

Champion was an Elk Grove High School graduate who was a focused on boxing, with dreams of going professional, The Bee reported.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What leads have been found in the October 1997 murder of a Natomas woman on Norbert Way? I was a neighbor on the street and was shocked when I heard the news. - Jay, Carmichael

A: The murder of Edna Gonzalez, 52, on Oct. 2, 1997 is unsolved, court records and Bee reports indicate.

Gonzalez's husband found her beaten to death in the hallway of her Norbert Way home. Her husband was never considered a suspect, investigators said.

Detectives said they believe Gonzalez knew or at least recognized the person who bound and gagged her, sliced off a finger apparently to steal her wedding band and beat her to death before making off with a VCR, some tools, clothing and a pickup.

The pickup truck was recovered in a field off Rio Linda Boulevard near Elkhorn Boulevard but yielded no case-breaking clues.

Gonzalez was a property manager of low-income apartments and duplexes on Traction Avenue. Her daughter said she "warred against prostitutes, drug fiends, addicts."

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened to Sarah Dutra, the young woman accused of helping her friend kill her husband with horse tranquilizers? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Dutra (seen in photo right from a 2002 court hearing) is still in prison, media reports and court records indicate.

A bid for freedom for the former college student implicated in the 2001 murder of a flamboyant Sacramento attorney was denied Dec. 3, 2007, when a judge refused to reduce Dutra's prison term because she acted with "unparalleled callousness," The Bee reported.

"Larry McNabney knew he was being murdered," San Joaquin Superior Court Judge F. Clark Sueyres said of the 52-year-old lawyer who was poisoned by his wife and took at least a day to succumb.

Dutra, now 29, helped the wife after McNabney was poisoned, including taping shut a refrigerator when McNabney's body nudged open the door, and was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 11 years in 2003.

Investigators said the two were after McNabney's money.

Dutra will remain in prison until at least 2011, The Bee reported.

Dutra was an art student at California State University, Sacramento, when she came to work part time in McNabney's office on Howe Avenue. There, she met McNabney's wife of six years, a 36-year-old con artist who had drummed up a rap sheet of theft and scam crimes in her home state of Florida that stretched to 113 pages, according to Dutra's attorney.

The two women became friends, forging a high-living relationship revolving around horse shows, sports cars and nonstop shopping -- financed by McNabney -- and executing a bizarre murder that generated books and a made-for-TV movie.

The wife, Laren Sims Jordan, used the alias "Elisa" while she was married to McNabney, but used at least several dozen during her lifetime. After several months on the lam, she hanged herself in a Florida jail cell in 2002 before she could be returned to California to face murder charges.

On the evening of Sept. 10, 2001, Sims Jordan and McNabney joined other friends for dinner while they were attending a quarterhorse show in the Los Angeles area. That was the last time anyone spoke to him.

During the trial, prosecutors and investigators said Sims Jordan spiked McNabney's drink with horse tranquilizer. She summoned Dutra from Sacramento to help her and, against the backdrop of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the two women rented a wheelchair to get McNabney through the hotel lobby and into his truck.

They drove the dying man through the Sierra Nevada, taking Highway 395 north, and tried once to use newly purchased shovels to bury the unconscious McNabney.

Arriving back at the couple's Lodi home, the two left him to die on the floor. Sims Jordan kept his body in a refrigerator in the garage until the two women drove to Las Vegas in Sims Jordan's newly leased Jaguar with the body in the trunk.

They tried unsuccessfully again to bury it in the desert, and after a stay at a luxury resort on the Vegas Strip returned home with it. Sims Jordan later said she buried her husband in a San Joaquin County vineyard, where a farmworker found it in February 2002.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened in the case of the fatal shooting of Sacramento State University student Kebret Tekle who was shot as she was leaving a nightclub? - Ms. Polar, San Francisco

A: David Allen Falls, 26, faces an April 15 trial in Sacramento Superior Court on murder in Tekle's death, according to court records.

The 20-year-old student (photo left) was out with friends May 2, 2007, near the Sacramento State University campus at the now-defunct Library Eat & Drinks nightclub on Folsom Boulevard when a fight on the dance floor moved outside, The Bee reported. The fight resulted in gunfire while Tekle was getting in her car to leave.

A bullet struck Tekle in the head. She slumped sideways in her vehicle and died later that day.

Tekle was an innocent bystander, investigators said.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Do you have information regarding an Alfred Martinez and a series of rapes in Sacramento? - just me, Sacramento

A: Alfred G. Martinez, now 39, was sentenced to 25-years-to-life in prison on April 17, 2006 for attacking and repeatedly sexually assaulting a woman at her home in 1995, according to court records and Bee reports.

A cold case DNA hit led to his arrest by Sacramento police on Dec. 21, 2004 at his midtown apartment.

The Aug. 31, 1995, case involved a woman asleep in her Tahoe Park home. Just after midnight an unfamiliar noise woke her. She opened her eyes to find a man standing in her bedroom doorway watching her, she told police.

She threw a pillow at him. He attacked, wrestling her to the ground where he sexually assaulted her several times, police said.

After the attack, he sat on her bed apologizing. Then he left. Later, the woman realized she had left the front door unlocked when she went to bed, police said.

Police and court reconds don't implicate Martinez in any other rapes.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened in the Keyhole Lounge shooting on Feb. 14, 2000? - Bryan Sacramento

A: The two homicides in that shooting are unsolved.

On that night, two men, thought to be gang members were killed in the lounge in the 10000 block of Folsom Boulevard, perhaps victims of retaliation for a shooting in the Arden Arcade area the previous week, The Bee reported.

The two victims, Vinh Cam Tuyen (photo left), 19, and Keith A. Lu, 26, were killed about 1 a.m. that night when a gunman walked into the karaoke bar and opened fire.

Two other men were wounded in the attack.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened to the guy (I believe his name was Howard King) who got out of his car and shot someone on the highway? - Anonymous, Lincoln

A: On June 30, 1993, King, a Sacramento County social welfare worker, was sentenced, to seven years in state prison for the May 1991 shooting death of another motorist on Highway 99, The Bee reported.

King, then 41, and the victim, Felix Hernandez Jr., had been driving aggressively and braking in front of each other when Hernandez stopped in front of King's pickup, according to then Sacramento County District Attorney Steve White.

Hernandez ran toward King's truck and allegedly put his hand into his pocket. King said he then shot Hernandez twice with a 9mm handgun because he feared Hernandez was reaching for a weapon. King pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter with the use of a firearm.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened to the case of two boys killed years ago at the Butterfield light-rail station? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: The slayings of Dominic Namnard, 13, and Jone Vongkhamsomphou, 12, are unsolved.

Their bodies were found Oct. 3, 1993, at the Butterfield light-rail station along Folsom Boulevard with single gunshot wounds to each of their heads.

Police speculated that they were killed for their trendy basketball athletic jackets, which were missing.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What ever happened to Gary Allen Bortis from Loomis who shot and killed his neighbor? And what happened to his live-in girlfriend? - Jan, Sacramento

A: Bortis, now 53, is in prison and Mary Anne Stein, who was identified as Bortis' girlfriend at the time of his conviction, was paroled in 2008, according to State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation records.

Bortis (2005 photo left) was convicted in 2007 of the Sept. 8, 2005, slaying of 52-year-old Lawrence Joseph Ficarra, an Aptos man, The Bee reported.

The jury also found Bortis guilty of special allegations that included intentional discharge of a firearm causing death, possession of a machine gun, possession of an assault weapon and possession of a destructive device.

Bortis was sentenced to 50 years to life in state prison. He was also ordered to pay $90,000 in restitution to the victim's family, records show.

The jury found Stein guilty of being an accessory after the fact.

Stein was sentenced to 16 months in state prison and ordered to pay $200 in restitution, records show.

Sheriff's detectives said that Ficarra was shot five times during an argument about an easement on Boone Lane, a private road in Loomis. The two men had been feuding over the property line for a year, detectives said.

Sheriff's officials said they confiscated 60 assault rifles and six hand grenades from Bortis' house after the shooting.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Back in the early '90s an ice cream vendor was killed in the Elk Grove area. Was this case ever solved and what was the outcome? - Michael, Carmichael

A: Three teens were convicted of the March 31, 1994 slaying of Ranbir Singh Bansel, according to Bee reports.

Bansel, the 46-year-old father of six children, was killed as he was canvassing the Meadowview neighborhood in his ice cream van.

A swarm of youths surrounded him and demanded free ice cream and soda. When he balked, he was shot at several times.

However, only Paul Earl McIntosh (photo left in 1995 photo), now 33, was convicted as an adult. A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced him to 20-years-to-life in prison on Sept. 22, 1995.

Records indicate he is still in prison.

Two other teens arrested in the case were tried separately as juveniles and found guilty of theft and accessory to murder charges: A 16-year-old boy was sentenced to 10 years at the California Youth Authority and a 15-year-old boy is serving a two-year sentence at a boys ranch.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Has anyone been arrested in the hit-and-run death of Ormond Robbins? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: The April 9, 2008 death of Robbins, 73, is unsolved.

Robbins was killed crossing the intersection of 16th and N streets in downtown when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver that as he walked to his apartment from Simon's bar, The Bee reported.

After a night of socializing at the neighborhood watering hole, Robbins would go out of his way to cross at thatcorner of 16th and N streets, a lighted intersection with a crosswalk and signal, a friend told The Bee shortly after Robbins was killed.

Robbins was in the crosswalk and had a walk signal, police said.

One vehicle, eastbound on N Street and about to turn left onto 16th Street, had stopped to let Robbins cross. He waved a thank you to the courteous driver, witnesses said.

Then a white pickup truck, also trying to turn left, came up behind the first car. The pickup driver honked and then whipped around the stopped vehicle.

The truck struck Robbins and sped off north on 16th Street.

A surveillance camera on a state building caught it driving past, but the driver and license plate could not be seen.

Police described it as a full-size white pickup truck, possibly a late 1990s model Ford F-150 long-bed used for work. It had a lumber rack on the back and a toolbox near the cab.

Officials suspect it could have minor damage on the front passenger-side grille or hood.

The driver was described by witnesses as an adult white male.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened in the case of someone being stabbed to death last year on Prospect Hill Drive in Gold River? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Daniel Ortega, 32, pleaded no contest to a charge of voluntary manslaughter on Nov. 4 in the stabbing death of Martin Ramirez, according to court records and Bee reports.

He received a sentence of one year in jail and five years probation, court records show.

Ortega and Ramirez, 22, argued at a residence in the 1100 block of Prospect Hill Drive early in the morning of April 11, investigators said.

Ortega then stabbed Ramirez, investigators said.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

By Bee Staff

A man who killed an 18-year-old while he was drunk and a man who shot to death another motorist in an act of road rage are among Sacramento area convicts who have paroles hearings scheduled next week.

They are:

-March 18, Kenneth Roy Stark, 55, Mule Creek State Prison.

A Yolo County Superior Court judge sentenced Stark to life in prison for the June 13, 1985 beating death of a homeless man, The Bee reported.

The body of Ronald Eugene Meyers, 42, was dumped in a Yolo Bypass field.

-March 18, Ralph Kendall Blasingame IV, 34, California State Prison, Solano.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Blasingame to 19-year-to-life in prison for fatally shooting an 18-year-old stranger in a drunken act of bravado, The Bee reported.

Blasingame killed Sean Michael Renfro with a single bullet fired from 100 feet at a car leaving a river party late at night on Oct. 16, 1993.

According to testimony, someone had shouted an obscenity and Blasingame, who was standing on the road, mistakenly thought the passing Honda was filled with people he and his friends had tangled with earlier that night. He claimed to have fired wildly into the night, never knowing he hit anything.

-March 18, Thongsanh Phongsavat, 34, California State Prison, Solano.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Phongsavat to 18-year-to-life in prison on April 26, 1996 for shooting and killing a motorist in a driving dispute on Interstate 80, The Bee reported.

Killed during the rush hour as he exited Interstate 80 at Northgate Boulevard on Oct. 10, 1995, was Brit C. Bahn, 24. Bahn and his brother, Chad, 25, were driving from Woodland to a store to return a television.

Bahn was hit in the temple with a single rifle shot fired from a Honda in which Phongsavat was riding as a passenger.

The incident began on I-5 when the Honda was tailgating the truck, and the occupants became embroiled in an exchange of gestures and racial slurs.

-March 18, John Lee Hart, 52, California State Prison, Solano.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Hart to life in prison for shooting to death Charles Mojeske, 22, of Sacramento at his home in 4200 block of May Street, The Bee reported.

The July 27, 1991 attack also resulted in injuries to two of the victim's brothers, neither of whom was hurt seriously.

Hart shot Mojeske when he opened the door to his house. Testimony showed that Mojeske earlier had been involved in a fight with Hart's 15-year-old brother.

-March 19, James Elmer Harmon, 69, California State Prison, Solano.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Harmon to life plus 17 years in April 1987 for a kidnap-robbery with a couple of accomplices that netted them $3,000, The Bee reported.

Harmon hit the victim with a pipe in the September 1986 crime.

Harmon had an extensive criminal history going back to 1959. The deputy district attorney who prosecuted him for the kidnap-robbery was the son of the deputy district attorney who won a conviction of Harmon in 1960.

If you want to give your opinion of an inmate's suitability for parole, you may mail a letter to:

Martin Hoshino, executive director

Board of Parole Hearings

1515 K Street

Sacramento, CA 95811

For more information on the Board of Parole Hearings, go to:

http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Divisions_Boards/BOPH/

Q: Whatever happened to that Elk Grove or Wilton high school football player who, in the early '90s or late '80s, was charged with sexually assaulting an underage girl? - S.Pea

A: On July 15, 1986, a Sacramento Superior Court Judge suspended a state prison sentence for former Elk Grove High School football star Michael R. Halvorsen, The Bee reported.

Halvorsen, then 19, was sentenced to one year in the county jail and placed on five years' probation for kidnapping a 12-year-old girl in June 1985.

Halvorsen was convicted in November 1985 of kidnapping the girl from the bed of a pickup truck parked in front of a home in south Sacramento.

The girl testified that Halvorsen took her to a nearby field and sexually molested her.

Halvorsen admitted taking the girl and carrying her to the field, but denied any sexual intent.

Two previous juries leaned heavily in Halvorsen's favor on a number of sexual assault charges against him, acquitting him of most and deadlocking in his favor on others.

The Sacramento County District Attorney's Office declined to try Halvorsen a third time on the sexual-assault charges. Halvorsen lost a football scholarship to San Diego State University because of his conviction.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: A UC Berkley student disappeared in 1963 and half her body was later found in Santa Cruz. Was anyone ever arrested for killing her? - Anonymous, Sacramento.

A: The grisly slaying of Judy Williamson is unsolved.

The 18-year-old pre-med student disappeared on Oct. 29, 1963 after she left her parents' home in Albany, The Bee reported.

She was last seen about 7 a.m. that day walking near her usual bus stop.

Her umbrella later was found in an El Cerrito shopping center trash can, six blocks from her bus stop. Her blood-stained school books were found in a trash can on the Berkeley campus.

On Nov. 19, 1963, blood stains found on the cement floor of a UC Berkeley parking lot matched Williamson's blood group.

On April 7, 1966, four people searching for redwood branches in Big Basin Park near Santa Cruz stumbled upon part of her the upper half of a skeleton and some tattered clothing.

Dental records and other tests established that the remains were Williamson's. The skull and breastbone bore slash marks that indicated she was the victim of a frenzied stabbing attack.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened regarding the home-invasion kidnapping and murder of Manuel Alexander in September or October of 2004? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: The Oct. 22, 2004 slaying of Alexander is unsolved, records indicate.

A gunman in the Pocket neighborhood of Sacramento strong-armed his way into the home of Alexander, a former bail bondsman, The Bee reported.

Alexander, 33, was kidnapped at gunpoint and found shot to death about a half hour later in the back seat of a car just off Riverside Boulevard near the Sacramento River.

Alexander had major legal troubles, including a criminal fraud case that was under way when he died. Detectives were focusing on Alexander's tangled business dealings for leads in the case, The Bee reported after the slaying.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: In 1990 or '91, a state worker named Johnny Franco was murdered and left in a field around the Cattleman's restaurant outside of Sacramento. Was the killer found? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: The slaying of John Francorcw remains unsolved, police said.

The 43 -year- old employee of the California Energy Commission was found bludgeoned to death Dec. 26, 1990 in a field near Cattlemen's Restaurant in Roseville, The Bee reported.

He lived in Rocklin.

The body was found without a wallet or identification, and while some pieces of gold jewelry, like a ring and necklace, remained on the body, several diamond rings Francorcw regularly wore were missing, investigators said.

Police said it appeared that Francorcw was killed elsewhere and the body dumped in the field.

Searches of the victim's Westwood Drive home and his car, which was found parked and locked in the restaurant parking lot, produced few leads.

One of Francorcw's neighbors described him as worldly, a man who spoke five languages and had lived in Europe and other countries.

Police and neighbors said the dead man's name was originally Franco when he came into this country as an immigrant at age 16.

Three families apparently helped him get started, and as a tribute to those families he changed his name by adding the first letter of their names onto the end of his.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What is the current status of serial killer Herbert Mullin? My cousin was one of his victims. - Reyna, Sacramento

A: Mullin is incarcerated at the Mule Creek State Prison at Ione, State Corrections Department officials told The Bee.

Mullin, now 62, was turned down for parole in March, 2006, the San Jose Mercury News reported. He is not eligible to ask for a parole hearing again until 2011.

It was the 10th time that Mullin had been turned down for parole.

Mullin said at his last parole hearing that he wanted to return to Santa Cruz County and find a wife, the Mercury News reported.

Mullin was convicted in 1973 of 10 slayings in Santa Cruz County and one in Santa Clara County during a five-month killing spree in late 1972 and early 1973, the newspaper reported.

He killed a woman and her two sons, ages 4 and 9, shooting them all in the head and stabbing the 4-year-old in the back. He stabbed to death a 64-year-old Catholic priest in a confessional booth in a Los Gatos church, the newspaper reported.

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Q: What was the sentence given to the killer of Dustin Hays in 1993? - Matt, Austin, Texas

A: Amil Paul McGrath, now 39 was sentenced on March 29, 1995, to 12 years in state prison for killing Hays, The Bee reported.

McGrath, whose own attorney described him as a second-generation drug user, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the Dec. 21, 1993, stabbing death of Hays in a Roseville apartment.

Placer County Superior Court Judge James D. Garbolino imposed the maximum sentence available to him under the jury's verdict - 11 years for manslaughter and an additional year for the use of a deadly weapon.

According to McGrath's confession to authorities, Hays had pleaded with McGrath not to let him die after being stabbed repeatedly at the apartment McGrath shared with a roommate.

McGrath's attorney said the killing was the tragic result of a "blind panic," brought about by a combination of factors and triggered by a fear that Hays was there to do him harm.

McGrath had just received a $70,000 cash settlement for an injury suffered in an automobile accident and had been warned by friends that someone may try to take the money from him.

A seven-day methamphetamine "high" brought paranoia, delusions and hallucinations to McGrath, his attorney said. When Hays said and did things that McGrath misinterpreted as threats, the assault began, the attorney said.

Hays' body eventually was wrapped in a carpet and dumped in a remote area off Olive Ranch Road in Granite Bay, where it was found on Christmas Day 1993.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened to Jimmy Cooc? He supposedly was involved in a murder - Anonymous, Elk Grove

A: Jimmy Chi Cooc (photo at left from 2003) was convicted with four other people in the men in the killing of 19-year-old Matthew Seivert in Tahoe Park on Christmas Eve 2003.

Cooc, then 19, joined Nicole Melissa Carroll, Jon Lam and John Dich, all 19; and Hung Ly, 21.

Cooc, Carroll and Dich were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Ly was sentenced to life without the chance of parole. Court records available to The Bee did not indicate what sentence Lam received.

Deputy District Attorney Donell Slivka said at the trial that the defendants believed Seivert made a slur against Asians, and lured him to Tahoe Park where they planned to beat him up.

According to Slivka, about a dozen teens blocked Seivert's car and approached with golf clubs and martial arts weapons called nunchucks, but things did not go as planned; Ly shot Seivert in the torso and head.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Whatever happened to Marshall Loren Staats, the man who was accused of vehicular manslaughter in the death of a female passenger in a traffic wreck in Fair Oaks last June? - Anonymous, Davis

A: According to Sacramento Superior Court records, Staats on Oct. 9 pleaded no contest to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and on Nov. 13 was sentenced to four years in state prison.

Staats was the driver of a car on June 4, 2009, that was involved in a collision that left a 23-year-old female passenger dead, The California Highway Patrol told The Bee following the crash.

Staats was suspected of having been under the influence of marijuana, according to a CHP spokeswoman.

About 4:30 p.m. that day, Staats, 30, made a left turn from San Juan Avenue onto Winding Way in front of a Ford F-250 truck, and his Honda was broadsided, the CHP said.

Right after the crash, Staats grabbed a backpack from his car and ran to put it in a nearby garbage can, the CHP said. Bags of marijuana were in the backpack, the CHP said.

Staats' girlfriend was pronounced dead after she was transferred to Mercy San Juan Medical Center. She was identified by Sacramento County coroner's officials as Ebony Lorraine Wash of Sacramento.

Staats was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. The driver of the Ford complained of pain.

Staats was arrested on suspicion of felony driving under the influence, vehicular manslaughter, possession of marijuana and driving with a suspended license, the CHP said.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Has the murder of a Sacramento County sheriff's deputy several years ago been solved? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: The case has not been solved and remains an open homicide investigation.

On Oct. 27, 2006, Deputy Jeffrey Mitchell, 38, was shot to death after making a pre-dawn traffic stop on a rural Sacramento County road.

Mitchell was patrolling solo when he sent a computer message to dispatchers that he was checking on a white Chevrolet van with no license plates at Meiss and Dillard roads, The Bee reported.

He also said he was "OK."

Minutes later, a concerned dispatcher sent other deputies to check on Mitchell. They found him on the ground, dead from a single gunshot wound to the head. Later, investigators found that Mitchell had been killed with his own county-issued handgun.

Firearms experts and forensic pathologists have determined conclusively that the death was a homicide.

Along with a partial DNA sample, investigators said a set of fingerprints was collected from a key item at the scene of the shooting. Those prints were compared with millions of others in national crime databases, and no matches were found.

The lack of a fingerprint match suggests a high probability that the owner of the prints is not in the criminal justice system, investigators said.

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Q: What happened to the so-called Doorbell Rapists from the early 1980s? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: The three men were paroled from prison sentences received in 1984 for raping a woman, according to police and prison records.

One of the men, Waco Williams (photo left), now 50, was arrested last year by the Sacramento Police Department for a 1980 murder, following a cold-case investigation.

The other two men - Marc Williams, now 48, and Craig Lamont Hinton, now 50, are free, records indicate.

Waco Williams is accused of the murder of Norman Crawford, 19, on the night of Oct. 21, 1980 in the area of Eighth Avenue and 45th Street.

In the sexual-assault case, Williams and Marc Williams, who is identified as his cousin, along with Hinton went to a woman's 43rd Avenue apartment at about 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 31, 1983, according to Bee reports.

The men tried to convince her to let them in, but when she refused, they broke in. The woman, who was in the apartment with her 17-month-old child, was sexually assaulted by each of the men, The Bee reported.

A neighbor who saw the men force their way inside the apartment called Sacramento County sheriff's deputies.

When deputies arrived, they knocked on the door. After waiting for a response, the deputies kicked in the door and discovered Marc Williams and Hinton robbing the woman, deputies said.

The men were suspected but not prosecuted in several other sexual assaults. The men would ring the doorbell and when a woman answered, they would force their way in and assault her, according to media coverage from that time.

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By Kim Minugh and Chelsea Phua
kminugh@sacbee.com

An 11-year-old boy home alone this evening in southern Sacramento County called 911 after hearing someone in his house, according to authorities.

On the phone with a dispatcher, the boy saw two men fleeing his home on Stocker Way, said Sacramento County sheriff's Sgt. Tim Curran. Authorities detained a suspect, but it's not clear on Tuesday night if he has been arrested.

They are still searching for another suspect.

The boy was not harmed.

By Cathy Locke
clocke@sacbee.com

A Fair Oaks man was treated for minor burns and smoke inhalation Friday night following a fire that caused major damage to his home in the 5100 block of Oak Point Way.

Firefighters with the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District arrived at 7:19 p.m. to find flames shooting 50 feet into the air and threatening neighboring homes. The 911 call was delayed, which gave time for the fire to intensify, according to a department news release. It took 34 firefighters 19 minutes to bring the fire under control.

Damage to the structure was estimated at $400,000. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

If a home is on fire, residents should leave immediately and call 911 from a cell phone or a neighbor's house, fire officials said.

Q: What happened to the man who kidnapped and killed Connie Lee Decker in 1984? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: David Breaux, now 53, is on death row at San Quentin Prison for Decker's murder, according to prison records.

Breaux was a released felon when he kidnapped Decker, 37, in front of a Sacramento liquor store June 17, 1984, The Bee reported. Decker was a stranger to Breaux.

He forced her to climb into a trash bin behind a Rancho Cordova business and shot her twice in the back of the head. He later moved her body to a remote field, where she was found the next day.

An investigation led to Breaux, who fled when he saw police outside his mother's home on June 19. He ran to nearby McKinley Park, where he hid in the clubhouse. He was shot in the forearm by a police officer before being subdued.

Breaux had two prior convictions - robbery in 1978 and battery on a police officer in 1975.

In addition to the death sentence, Breaux also was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 10 years.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Was anyone ever arrested in the robbery of millions of dollars from a truck by a hole cut in the roof while it was going down I-80 years ago? - Anonymous, Citrus Heights

A: The theft of $2.3 million from a truck-trailer rig as it traveled down Interstate 80 in 1999 is unsolved.

On the night of March 24, 1999 in a rain, a thief apparently climbed unseen onto the roof of an unarmored trailer after it left Sacramento, cut a hole in the roof and somehow removed the money without being detected, The Bee reported.

When the truck arrived in San Francisco, workers discovered the money was missing, a strange bag and a pool of water on the floor from rain and the hole in the roof.

The thief or thieves reportedly got away with about 270 pounds of $20 $50 and $100 bills.

An FBI spokesman told The Bee that the theft was one of the most unusual that he could remember.

Loomis, Fargo and Co. discontinued the cash shuttles shortly after the theft, FBI officials said.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened in the case of a man who was killed by a sniper near Blue Diamond while on a walk in the late 1980s? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: The slaying of Stephen McDonald on May 13, 1988 by a sniper's bullet remains unsolved.

McDonald, 32, was killed as he walked with more than 100 co-workers outside their midtown Sacramento employer, Blue Diamond Growers, according to Bee reports.

The sniper left behind few clues: a witness report of a man running from an apartment building in the 1800 block of D Street and five bullet holes in a the bedroom window screen of a second-floor apartment.

Investigators said they believed the shooting was a random attack. One theory was the sniper may have been one of the many transients who frequent the neighborhood on the northern edge of midtown beside the Southern Pacific railroad tracks.

McDonald, who began working full time at Blue Diamond less than six weeks earlier, was strolling with other employees on a fitness walk at about 11:45 a.m. near the company at 18th and C streets when he was shot.

Police released a composite sketch of a man wanted as a witness or suspect in the slaying. The man, who was seen running from the scene after an ambulance arrived, was described as white, 25 to 30 years old, about 5 feet 11 inches tall and 175 pounds.

The man had long, dirty blond hair loosely tied in a ponytail and a clean appearance. He wore a white short-sleeved shirt, tan trousers, a cap, possibly a homemade sun visor and metal-rimmed sunglasses with teardrop-shaped lenses.

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From Bobby Caina Calvan

A 50-year-old North Sacramento woman, described by neighbors as the "cat lady," was in critical condition Sunday night at UC Davis Medical Center after being severely beaten, police said.

The woman's 35-year-old former boyfriend, who was at her home in the 2300 block of Boxwood Drive when police arrived, was being detained for questioning, said Sgt. Norm Leong, spokesman for the Sacramento Police Department.

Neither the woman's name nor the identity of her former boyfriend was released by police.

Her injuries were due to "trauma to the head," resulting from being struck with an object, Leong said.

Police said they were summoned to the scene by a phone call at 2:15 p.m., but declined to elaborate on who alerted officers.

Neighbors contacted Sunday night said they heard nothing and were surprised to see police cars in the neighborhood and their neighbor being wheeled out on a gurney.

Norman Silva, who lives next door, said his television was tuned to a football game, its speakers blaring, when the beating apparently occurred.

Though she moved into the neighborhood less than a year ago, neighbors were well acquainted with the victim.

"We just knew her as the cat lady. She was a tiny little thing," Silva said, describing the woman as a petite brunette.

Q: What happened to the people who were in a right-wing Christian group who were accused years ago of illegally selling car insurance? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Eight Northern Californians were indicted in 2005 on charges of money laundering and selling illegal car insurance after the FBI and the state's insurance regulator investigated the operations of a self-styled right-wing Christian organization, The Bee reported.

According to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento, the government asked for the charges against Sherwood Rodrigues, Blanche Hassall, David Polnoff and Louise Renfro to be dismissed in exchange for their testimony.

Here is the disposition of the other cases, according to the spokeswoman:

Amy Polnoff pleaded guilty on May 7, 2009 and was sentenced to 36 months in prison. She is in the Dublin federal prison.

Kurt Lakota pleaded guilty on May 14, 2009 and was sentenced to 21 months in prison. He is in federal custody.

James Sydney Kalfsbeek and Donna Rowe were found guilty on June 10, 2009 and are scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 17. They are not in custody.

According to Bee reports of the indictment, the suspects, who operated Puget's Sound Agricultural Society Ltd., conspired to tell 2,500 members, state regulators and accident victims that the group offered an alternative to automobile liability insurance that complied with laws everywhere.

The society, which associated with an entity called the Jesus Christ Administrators, denied it sold car insurance, insisting that what it offered was "a financial responsibility program" for moral Christians.

The criminal indictments, filed June 23, 2005 in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, followed a probe that began in 2000 when insurance regulators in 11 states and two Canadian provinces started investigating the firm. The society was incorporated in British Columbia but operated primarily in the United States, including offices in Carmichael, Georgetown, Garden Valley, Winters, Sunnyvale and Arbuckle.

Besides charges of money laundering and conspiracy, the 42-count grand jury indictment alleged mail fraud, wire fraud, engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property, and aiding and abetting.

The indictment states that the society's managers, who collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from members, failed to warn consumers they might be arrested for failure to have valid proof of insurance if they were ever involved in a car accident.

Between 1994 and its closure in 2002, the FBI and the California Department of Insurance alleged, the society advertised its products on the radio and in magazines and regional newspapers the grand jury described as "predominantly anti-government."

It offered clients insurance cards that looked like those issued by licensed insurers for glove compartments, authorities said.

Members paid $500 for a lifetime membership in the society, plus an extra $250 for each vehicle owned, the grand jury stated, and the society generally paid members' smaller claims but denied large ones.

Before the group was shut down in 2002, it was slapped with 11 cease-and-desist orders and four warnings by several states, including Minnesota and Indiana.

The society ignored the orders and operated illegally until it was closed, authorities said.

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Q: What are the details of a bizarre road rage incident perhaps five years ago along Highway 50 where one man was killed and another man committed suicide? - Anonymous, Carmichael

A: Donald Rodger Bell shot himself to death on May 20, 2001, near the roadside memorial on Highway 50 to the man he was accused of killing in a road-rage incident about three weeks earlier, The Bee reported.

Investigators said Bell, 52, of Elk Grove called 911 on his cell phone about 10 a.m. to tell police he intended to shoot himself. He asked them to relay a message to his wife, and then fired one shot to his head.

Bell had returned to the Hazel Avenue offramp to meet with an investigator working on his criminal defense, investigators said. He faced voluntary manslaughter charges in the shooting death of Timothy Michael Mann, 53, of Orangevale on May 6, 2001. Bell was out on bail.

The fight between Mann and Bell started just before 11:30 a.m. when both motorists were traveling east on Highway 50 near Bradshaw Road. Sheriff's officials said Bell, who was driving a small white pickup truck, pulled into traffic in front of Mann's four-door sedan.

The two exchanged angry words and gestures while continuing eastbound before exiting at Hazel Avenue. Mann pulled into the left-hand turn lane. Bell was behind him in his truck.

While they were sitting at the light waiting for it to change, Bell allegedly got out of the car and gestured to Mann. Mann left his car and the two men began arguing. Witnesses said Mann took a swing at Bell, who then shot Mann.

Mann's wife and their 28-year-old son looked on in horror, as did Bell's 15-year-old son, who was in the pickup.

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Q: In 2006, two men were attacked at Hagan Park in Rancho Cordova. What was the outcome of the investigation? - Beth, Sacramento

A: The Bee's Crime Q&A published incorrect information about the convictions in a 2006 attack on two men in Hagan Park in Rancho Cordova.

According to the prosecutor who handled the case, here is the correction information:

Alexander S. Kent, now 23, was found guilty sentenced to 8 years in prison.

Jeremy Lee Strain, now 23, was found guilty of two felony counts and sentenced to 7 years to life in prison.

Robert Anthony Nelson, now 20, was convicted and was sentenced to 31 years to life in prison.

Joseph Holloran, now 20, was convicted and sentenced to 13 years to life in prison.

The Bee obtained the incorrect information from the Sacramento Superior Courts online records.

A 38-year-old maintenance worker and a park 32-year-old park volunteer were beaten and stabbed in a melee at Hagan Park the evening of May 11, 2006, The Bee reported.

The attack occurred after the maintenance worker and the parks volunteer responded to a woman's call for help.

The maintenance worker, the father of four children, was severely disabled by the attack, The Bee reported.

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From Jim Wasserman:

An unidentified man was hospitalized Sunday night after being shot during a home invasion robbery in south Sacramento, Sacramento Police reported.

Police said an unidentified resident of the home in the 7800 block of Ann Arbor Way shot one of three suspects who broke into the home.

The incident occurred shortly after 8:30 p.m.

The gunshot victim was taken to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in South Sacramento. Police said the wound was not life-threatening.

An investigation is continuing.

- Jim Wasserman

Q: What happened to Bruce Phan? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Bruce Huy Phan and Lamson Trong Pham were convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the Oct. 27, 2002 slayings of a 17-year-old boy, according to Sacramento Superior Court records.

Phan (2002 photo bottom left), now 24, and Pham (2002 photo bottom right), now 25, were among four to six people who fired more than 25 rounds after crashing a house party in the 6000 block of Pomegranate Avenue, just east of Highway 99, The Bee reported.

When authorities arrived, they found Alan Ting Khamphoumy dead in a ditch across the street from the house. They also found a 17-year-old boy shot in the hand and a 17-year-old girl shot in the lower body.

The two injured 17-year-olds survived their wounds.

Pham was hit during the shooting, probably shot by one of his partners in the shooting, investigators said.

Pham was shot twice in the chest and once in the hand. He recovered from his wounds to stand trial.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Was anyone caught in the murder of Jason Frost at the Bread Store downtown in 1997? - Kristine, Sacramento

A: The man who killed Frost, who was assistant manager of the Sacramento eatery, was convicted by a jury and sentenced on Oct. 25, 2001 to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to Sacramento Superior Court records and Bee reports.

Richard Anthony Brewer, now 37, killed Frost, 23, two days before Christmas in 1996 at the Bread Store.

Two other men were convicted in the slaying; a third pleaded guilty to manslaughter and testified for the prosecution.

Frustrated that Frost didn't have a key to the safe, Brewer shot Frost in the abdomen twice with a 12-gauge shotgun, leaving softball-size holes. The employee was shot a third time in the buttocks as he lay reeling in pain on the floor.

During the five-month trial, three separate juries heard how Brewer and three other masked accomplices stormed into the restaurant at closing time.

Brewer, who wore a mask with a devil's face, cornered Frost behind a counter in an enclosed space and shot him from three to five feet away.

Frost was hospitalized for 10 days before he died of a massive infection from his wounds, the shotgun pellets and the shell's wadding, which were recovered from inside his body.

Brewer was convicted of murder with the special circumstances of attempted robbery, which carries a mandatory life term in prison with no parole.

But the trial judge elected to stack an extra 25 years on top of the life term for Brewer's other five charges, including the use of a firearm and of the robbery of the same J Street eatery a month earlier.

Also convicted with Brewer was Bobby M. Dixon, 27, the getaway driver, who was sentenced to 32 years and eight months in prison. Records indicate he is still in prison.

James Glica and Rickie Antonio Martinez Jr. were convicted of their roles in rounding up the other four employees as Brewer looked for the money.

Glica, now 29, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Martinez, also now 29, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Glica is still in prison. The Bee was unable to determine the status of Martinez.

Trevor Shea Garcia, now 36, an accomplice who testified for the prosecution, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The Bee was unable to determine his status.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happen to the killers who murdered the people in the Good Guys store? - Anonymous, Carmichael

A: The only survivor of the four gunmen who conducted the bloody 1991 siege and shootout at the Good Guys store on Stockton Boulevard is in prison, according to records.

Loi Khac Nguyen (left at a court hearing in 1995), now 34, is serving 41 consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole, according to court records and Bee reports.

Three gunmen, two store employees and a customer died and 11 others were wounded in the eight-hour standoff at the retail electronics store on April 4, 1991.

According to Bee reports, the ordeal began on a Thursday afternoon when Loi Khac Nguyen and his brothers Pham Khac Nguyen, 19, and Long Khac Nguyen, 17, and their friend, Cuong Tran, 16, all Vietnamese refugees, stormed the store waving automatic pistols.

They took more than 40 hostages and presented to a Sacramento County Sheriff's Department negotiator a wild array of demands, including providing them millions of dollars and a large helicopter.

They eventually killed three hostages and wounded 11. Dead were store employees Kris Edward Sohne and John Lee Fritz and customer Fernando Gutierrez.

The standoff ended that night when the gunmen began shooting hostages, prompting officers to storm the store. The gunmen were flattened by a hail of gunfire, stopping the massacre. The Loi Khac Nguyen was seriously wounded.

As for a motive, information that surfaced at Nguyen's trial revealed the men were frustrated by their inability to learn English and find jobs.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

From Bill Lindelof and Kim Minugh:

A 10-month-old boy pulled unconscious from a south Sacramento swimming pool remains in critical condition today, hospital officials said.

The boy was discovered in the pool at a residence on the 8200 block of Tevrin Way about 10 a.m. Monday, said Sacramento Metropolitan Fire Capt. Christian Pebbles. Responding paramedics found the boy's father performing CPR, Pebbles said. The boy had no pulse and was not breathing.

Paramedics took over CPR as they transported him to Methodist Hospital. His pulse was revived, and his breathing was aided with the help of a ventilator, Pebbles said.

The child had been out of sight only briefly before he was found in the water, his parents told officials. Pebbles said there is no indication of foul play.

Pebbles said drowning is the leading cause of child death, injury and disability in the state and the second-leading cause in the country.

Q: A woman was shot to death in the doorway of her Orangevale home in 1995. What the status of that case? - Anonymous, Orangevale.

A: The unsolved murder case of Carol Blake is a haunting one. Blake, a 45-year-old mother of three, was found by her husband and daughter shot dead in the doorway of her Orangevale home on May 20, 1995.

Sacramento County Sheriff's homicide detectives have not given up on the case, however, Sgt. Tim Curran recently told The Bee.

The case is in line for review to see if any evidence can be reprocessed with new technology, Curran said.

Detectives were never able to determine a motive for the murder; they do believe the victim may have known her killer, Curran said.

According to Bee reports from the time of the slaying, the door to the home had not been forced open and there were no signs of a struggle. The house had not been ransacked or burglarized. Investigators told The Bee that it appeared Blake's attacker never entered the home.

Blake had worked as a counselor for troubled children and, shortly before her death, had started a job doing background checks for adoptions.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: A high school acquaintance of mine, Ray Brewer was shot and killed by plain clothes police officers in the early 1970s. What became of the three officers involved and Ray's companions? I lost track of the outcome and this has long haunted me. - Dan, Spencer, New York

A: For those who don't remember the case, Ray Brewer, 15, was among a group of black teens on Dec. 3, 1972, in north Sacramento who police mistook for members of a band of robbers who had struck repeatedly in the area, The Bee reported.

The unarmed youths were carrying sticks, which police said they mistook for firearms. The teens ran after plain-clothes officers ordered them to stop.

Police fired on the group, killing Brewer. A second youth was arrested. It was later determined that Brewer and the second youth had nothing to do with the robberies. They were carrying the sticks to ward off dogs.

Brewer's death triggered a heated public debate and protest marches.

A Sacramento County grand jury indicted for manslaughter the officer who shot Brewer. In 1973, a state appeals court threw out the indictment on the grounds the officer's action was a proper "exercise of police judgment made in the face of a pressing and dangerous situation."

Two officers were charged in Sacramento Municipal Court with misdemeanor assault charges for allegedly hitting Brewer's companion with their pistols. In 1974, a judge acquitted the officers.

The Police Department changed its policy on when an officer could use deadly force. The city settled damage suits out of court with Brewer's family.

The Bee could not locate Brewer's companion.

One of the officers involved in the shooting said Brewer's death haunted him and he quit the force at a psychiatrist's order.

Another officer stayed with the force and was eventually promoted to lieutenant. The Bee could not determine what happened to the third officer involved in the case.

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Q: Was the murder of Richard Belton in the '70s ever solved? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Belton's murder in 1976 remains unsolved, leaving investigators stumped even for a motive, according to Bee reports.

Belton, 44, was found shot to death in his parked pickup on Dec. 15. He was last seen the day before as he left for his night-shift machinist's job in Berkeley.

His pickup was found on Main Avenue between Norwood Avenue and Northgate Boulevard.

His wallet was intact and there were no signs of a struggle, investigators said.

Detectives said there was a strong possibility that Belton, who lived in North Highlands, was shot elsewhere and his body driven to where it was found, a then isolated part of Sacramento.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Was anyone ever arrested in the killing of Jimmy Archie in 1986? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: A suspect was arrested but not prosecuted in the slaying of Jimmy Lee Archie, 40, whose bludgeoned body was found July 26, 1986, in a canal Near Rio Vista in Solano County, according to Bee reports and court records.

The suspect, a Sacramento resident, has since died.

Police believe Archie was Killed in Sacramento, then Dumped in Solano County.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened to the killer of Marc Dotson, who was trying to break up a fight at a 7-Eleven? - Anonymous, Sacramento.

A: Christopher George Somkopulos, tried as an adult although he was only 16 when he killed Dotson, was convicted and sentenced to 25-years-to-life in prison in March 1998, according to Sacramento Superior Court records. Somkopulos is still in prison, records indicate.

Dotson, a clerk at a 7-Eleven convenience store at Gerber and French roads, was shot and killed on Aug. 6, 1996, after he tried to evict a group of loiterers from the store's parking lot. Somkopulos was arrested a day later by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, The Bee reported.

Witnesses told investigators Dotson asked the group to leave, but instead they got out of their cars and surrounded him.

An argument followed and the gunman shot Dotson once in the head. He was taken to UC Davis Medical Center, where he died.

Dotson, an Elk Grove High School graduate, had worked for 7-Eleven for about three months.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

From Kim Minugh:

Sacramento County sheriff's deputies have arrested a 20-year-old man in connection with Sunday's fatal shooting in North Highlands.

Dmitri Goodie was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail early this morning on suspicion of murder. He is accused of killing 44-year-old Edward Guy Patterson during a dispute on Rockwell Drive, said sheriff's Sgt. Tim Curran.

Based on witness statements, detectives initially believed that Patterson was involved in an altercation between two groups that led to an exchange of gunfire, Curran said. However, detectives now believe Patterson was unarmed and an innocent bystander caught in the gunfire, Curran said.

Detectives are investigating witness accounts that more than one person fired a gun in the dispute, Curran said.

Detectives believe the shooting stemmed from an argument earlier Sunday between two men, one living on Rockwell Drive and one -- believed to be Goodie -- living on nearby Omega Court, Curran said. That fight was over an unpaid debt, Curran said.

About 1:30 p.m., Goodie and other men from Omega Court returned to Rockwell Drive to confront the man they argued with earlier, and gunfire erupted, Curran said. The two groups apparently were some distance away when shots were fired, Curran said, so there might not have been any words exchanged between the two groups.

Patterson was shot multiple times and died at an area hospital several hours later.

Curran said detectives could make further arrests.

Goodie is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday. He has no formal criminal history in Sacramento County, Superior Court records show.

Q: East Area Rapist - Did they every identify him and have they closed the case? - Debbie, Sacramento

A: The East Area Rapist has not been caught. Some investigators believe he may be one of the most prolific criminals in California history.

His crime spree may have first begun in the early 1970s with more than 100 home burglaries in Visalia, where his last crime was shooting a man who tried to stop him from abducting the man's daughter.

Q: What is the status of the federal case against John Luong? - Anonymous, Elk Grove

A: John That Luong of Elk Grove is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of various charges in federal court, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento.

Luong (2001 file photo at left) was among six defendants who have all been convicted of charges ranging from robbery and use of firearms to murder, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Luong, Minh Huynh, Thongsouk Theng Lattanaphon and Hoang Ai Le were found guilty by a jury on Dec. 14, 2007. They are scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 19.

Thy Chann and Hoang Nguyen were found guilty by jury on June 9, 2003. Chann was sentenced to life in prison on Dec. 17, 2007. Nguyen was sentenced to life on Aug. 20, 2003.

According to Bee reports, Luong and Le were among four men found guilty in federal court in San Francisco of major crimes.

Both were members of a gang that stole millions of dollars in computer parts in three states in the mid-1990s, investigators said.

Luong was sentenced to 88 years in prison and Le to 20 years in prison by a judge in San Francisco in 2001 for conspiracy, racketeering and armed robbery.

The sentences capped a joint federal-state-local investigation, dubbed Bytes Dust, of approximately 30 robberies and attempted robberies of electronics companies from 1994 to 1996 in California, Oregon and Minnesota.

Also sentenced in San Francisco was Mady Chan of Elk Grove to 75 years and Huy Chi "Jimmy" Luong of Elk Grove to 25 years.

John Luong and Le were also convicted of distributing heroin in the San Francisco case and had been serving federal sentences for immigrant smuggling.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened to Christopher Parker who was arrested for bank robbery around 1995? - d.l., Sacramento

A: Parker, now 55, and an accomplice eventually received sentences of around 25 years in federal prison, but not before a judge first dismissed the case and then dealt with the pair too harshly, according to Bee reports.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton in Sacramento was overruled in 1999 when he threw out the bank robbery case and again in 2001 when he set the robbers' sentences too high.

Parker and Spencer Sawyer, now 30, were part of a gang that committed four bank robberies in Sacramento in late 1996 and early 1997 - two at Bank of America branches and two at the same Home Savings Bank office.

But after the U.S. attorney's office repeatedly delayed the trial, Karlton dismissed the charges, accusing prosecutors of ruining his case schedule. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision, and the men were tried and convicted.

In sentencing them, Karlton blasted the federal sentencing guidelines by which he said Congress was forcing him to impose long prison terms on young men, leaving them without hope. He sentenced Parker to 84 years and Sawyer to 74 years.

The 9th Circuit sent the case back to Karlton to recalculate the terms, saying certain factors didn't apply.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Could let me know what happened with the case of James Daveggio and Michelle Michaud? - Anonymous, Marysville

A: James Daveggio, now 48, and Michelle Michaud, now 50, are on death row, according to prison records.

The Sacramento couple were convicted in 2002 of abducting, raping and murdering a Pleasanton woman in a minivan rigged for torture, The Bee reported.

Daveggio (photo bottom left) and Michaud (photo bottom right), boyfriend and girlfriend, kidnapped Vanessa Lei Samson, 22, in December 1997.

The couple kept Samson inside their minivan, rigged with hooks and ropes, where they repeatedly tortured her with curling irons while driving east toward the Sierra.

Samson's body later was discovered in a snowbank along a rural road in Alpine County.

During the lengthy trial, several women testified that they also had been kidnapped and raped by the couple.

Until the series of violent crimes surfaced, Michaud, a single mother, was active in her daughter's Catholic school, served as a crossing guard and was an altar society member at her church. At night, court records revealed, she worked as a massage parlor prostitute.

Daveggio was described as a bartender and biker.

The couple were arrested in South Lake Tahoe by Placer County authorities, the day before Samson's body was found, as suspects in the kidnapping and rape of a Reno student in September of that year.

Daveggio was convicted of that crime in 1999 and was sentenced to 25 years, and Michaud, who pleaded guilty, was given 13 years.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened to Nathaniel Guidi, who was accused killing his newly born child? - kps, Fair Oaks

A: Guidi pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and child abuse, according to court records.

On Feb. 1, 2006, a Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced him to 18 years and four months in prison.

His 6-month-old son was found not breathing in his crib in Guidi's Orangevale apartment. Days later Sacramento County sheriff's detectives arrested Guidi on suspicion of killing the infant, The Bee reported on Jan. 29, 2005.

After the coroner reported finding two of the infant's ribs broken, Guidi admitted he had lost control, just for a moment, and slammed his fist into his baby son's chest, investigators told The Bee.

"He just snapped," said Detective Sgt. Connie Merkins. "And he did something that you just can't take back."

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened to Freddy Gomez, the man accused of shooting the doorman at the Torch Club in January of 2005?

A: A Sacramento Superior Court jury convicted Freddy Lebatique Gomez of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and carrying an illegal concealed weapon.

A judge sentenced Gomez, now 60, on Nov. 22, 2005 to 25 years to life in prison.

Gomez, who witnesses said was drunk, was turned away from The Torch Club in downtown Sacramento on Jan. 21, 2005. He returned with a sawed-off shotgun and shot the club's doorman, The Bee reported.

The doorman survived his wound, The Bee reported.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened to Charles Ng? - dulcefreak, Stockton

A: Ng (photo left from 2001) has been on California's death row at San Quentin since June 30, 1999, the day he was sentenced in an Orange County courtroom to die for 11 Calaveras County murders.

Ng, a Hong Kong native and former U.S. Marine, was convicted after 14 years of court delays. Ng, now 48, had fled to Canada, where he was soon jailed on a theft charge, but he avoided extradition for years because of Canada's reluctance to extradite prisoners to face the death penalty.

Ng and Leonard Lake killed six men, three women and two baby boys. They also held two of the women as prisoners in a bunker at Lake's cabin near Wilseyville.

Ng appeared with Lake on a homemade videotape, taunting the two women and threatening to kill them. Both women were murdered, and prosecutors claimed their bodies and the bodies of all but two of the victims in this case were burned.

Lake committed suicide shortly after his 1985 arrest.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened to the case of Arthur Gonzalez, who was killed on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard? - missj, Sacramento

A: Raymond Muhammad Ward, now 33, was convicted by a Sacramento Superior Court jury of murdering Gonzalez on Oct. 14, 1993 for the victim's customized Oldsmobile with shiny gold-colored wheels, The Bee reported.

Ward proclaimed his innocence even as he was handed a sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.

Ward walked up to a 1984 Oldsmobile at a red light at Fruitridge Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard shortly after 11 a.m. Arthur Gonzalez was waiting for the light to change on his way to work at an automotive shop. Ward shot Gonzalez in the head, dumped the body in the busy intersection and drove off.

Statements from Ward's friends said he bragged the day of the shooting and joked at how television reporters had messed up details of the slaying, testimony indicated.

Ward's friends also said he admitted that he killed Gonzalez to steal his deep green customized car with gold-colored rims and trim.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Is Martin Kuwabara still in prison? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Kuwabara, now 49, is still in prison.

Kuwabara, convicted of attempted murder, use of a deadly weapon and infliction of great bodily injury on his wife, was sentenced March 11, 1994 to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole, The Bee reported.

The sentence - the maximum permitted by law - was handed down by Superior Court Judge Jeffrey L. Gunther who said it was the most heinous crime that he had seen in his 10 years on the bench.

Kuwabara attacked his wife with a 10-pound steel dumbbell, dumped her into an Elk Grove ditch, choked her and left her for dead.

Note: Sacto911 thanks members of the area district attorney offices and law enforcement agencies who take the time to help this feature locate prisoners in and out of the state's prison system.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Is Robert Huston, who was convicted of attempted murder in 1994 of his girlfriend, still in prison?

A: Huston, now 53, is still in prison, records indicate.

On March 4, 1994 a Sacramento Superior Court judge gave him consecutive sentences, which means one sentence must be served before the other one begins, of life in prison and of 19 years four months in prison.

A Sacramento District Attorney's Office prosecutor said when Huston was sentenced that the earliest he would be eligible for parole would be 2010.

Huston was convicted of 13 felonies, including the attempted murder of his former girlfriend and the assault of her 13-year-old daughter. Police said the daughter's screams scared Huston off from what investigators believe was a plan to rape her.

A terror campaign culminated on April 27, 1993, when Huston shot his ex-girlfriend with a shotgun as she emerged from her car.

The blast nearly blew off her arm, which was reconstructed with tissue and bone from other parts of her body, leaving her disfigured and in pain. She also was wounded in the abdomen.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened to George Bouras who beat his girlfriend to death in 1981 near the Sacramento State University campus? - Anonymous, Sacramento.

A: Bouras, now 61, is still in prison, records indicate. On Nov. 21, 1988 he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for beating Nancy Gayle Nelson, 42, to death with a hammer.

It took six years to find Bouras and more than a year to bring him to trial, but a jury needed little more than half a day of deliberation to convict him of first-degree murder, The Bee reported.

Bouras, a native of Greece but a citizen of both Australia and the United States, assumed at least seven different identities during his lengthy flight from justice that took him to Greece and then Australia.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Did they ever catch the killer of Ogden Miles? He was a popular TV announcer in Sacramento in the 1950s. - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Roy Victor Olson, then 23, was convicted of slaying Miles on Oct. 1, 1958 after Miles offered him a ride in the Antelope area. Olson stabbed Miles repeatedly with a large kitchen knife.

Olson was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to five year to life in prison.

Olson also was convicted of stabbing to death a Seattle restaurant worker on June 20, 1958. Sometime in the 1970s, Olson apparently was paroled from California and began serving a 75-year sentence in Washington state.

Records indicate that he was paroled from Washington in the mid-1990s and died in 2001.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened to Dr. Tison who was accused of killing his small child by throwing her out a window? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: On July 10, 2002, Sacramento weight-loss doctor Dennis Jay Tison was sentenced to six years in prison, The Bee reported. Tison was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and child endangerment after his 14-month-old daughter fell to her death from the second-story window of the Tison family home.

Deputy Sacramento County District Attorney Mike Savage argued during the trial that Tison, then 36, either assaulted the child or threw her out of the second-story window in a drunken rage on Jan 12, 2001.

Despite warnings from his wife to stop drinking alcohol, Tison persisted and after the girl's death in their Orangevale home, he lied to cover it up, the prosecutor said.

Tison's lawyer, Donald Heller, described his client as a "drunk parent" who made a mistake he will have to live with for the rest of his life.

Heller maintained that Tison had placed his daughter on top of a desk to play while the doctor was checking his stocks on a computer. On the desk, next to an open window, were a loaded handgun and a knife.

Tison was guilty of drinking and using bad judgment, but he never intended to hurt his daughter, Heller argued.

The girl mistook the open second-story window for a sliding-glass door on the ground floor and leaped or fell to her death on the wooden deck 12 feet below, the defense attorney said.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened to the man and woman who forced a little boy they were taking care of to box with other kids, eventually killing the boy? - Anonymous, Sacramento

A: On Oct. 20, 2006, Renecha Marina Gulley, then 24, and Earl Joseph Christopher, then 26, were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison over the beating death of their 3-year-old godson, The Bee reported.

A jury convicted the pair of the murder of Christopher David Thomas, who died July 19, 2004 of severe head injuries sustained in what the prosecutor described as a week of physical and emotional abuse.

In opening remarks to the jury, Deputy District Attorney Robin Shakely said the boy was forced to box with his 5-year-old brother as "spectator sport" for Christopher and Gulley. The boxing matches and other acts of violence in the Rancho Cordova apartment were for the amusement of the godparents who were taking care of the boy for the parents, trial evidence showed.

The boy, who died of bleeding in the brain, also had several bruises on his chest, hip, knees, shins, hands and legs. He had a bruise on his buttocks in the shape of a hand, the evidence showed.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: Does the Sacramento Police Web site provide a timely listing of all crime reports? I would like to know the specific location (or at least the street name) of the recent rash residential burglaries reported in my neighborhood. - Boogieman, Sacramento

A: You can find daily reports from Sacramento police officers at this site (this is not every call for service but it is the closest to what you want. The freshest information is about 24 hours old):

http://www.sacpd.org/dailyactivity/

The Bee, television and radio stations and other media use these reports as a tip service to find interesting stories.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened to the suspects in the September or October 1993 shooting or stabbing death of by a man that was set up by the son of the victim's girlfriend? - Bob, Sacramento

A: On Sept. 25, 1993, Apolinar Martinez, 28, was stabbed eight or nine times and shot once in the head after assailants jumped him, gagged him and bound him with duct tape when he entered his Natomas apartment, The Bee reported.

Martinez's attackers included his girlfriend's son, who was angry because he believed Martinez had beaten her, police said.

However, the girlfriend had not filed police complaints against Martinez in the past, records showed.

The girlfriend's son, Marcos Gonzalez, then 21, was convicted of murder and given a 15-years-to-life sentence on Feb. 24, 1995, Sacramento Superior Court records show.

Jesus Orona, then 18, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 25-years-to-life in prison on June 12, 1997, court records show.

Francisco Orona, then 19, pleaded no contest to a murder charge and was sentenced to 15-years-to-life in prison on Sept. 6, 1996, court records show.

The Bee did not report the relationship, if any, between the Orona suspects.

A 21-year-old man and a 17-year-old youth boy also were arrested in the case. The Bee could not find any records indicating that those two were ever charged in the case.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened to the man who used a hammer to kill a UCD doctor in the hospital restroom in 1985? Anonymous, Sacramento

Jeffrey Gerard Jones is on death row, according to state Corrections Department records.

Jones, now 50, received the death sentence for two fatal hammer attacks in Sacramento and Davis restrooms in 1985, apparently believing doctors had implanted a drill bit in his ear that made him hear voices.

Dr. Michael Corbett and Harry Dong died after Jones bludgeoned them in men's rooms at the Sacramento Medical Center and Sutter's Fort, respectively. A third man was partially paralyzed after an attack at the Medical Center.

Jones also confessed to the hammer slaying of Fred Morris in a University of California, Davis, restroom and was given an additional sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole.

Jones had a history of mental treatment for paranoid, but was found competent to stand trial.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: I've noticed Moses Valdez is in the county jail on new charges. How is he free after he killed two men on July 4, 1993? Senior, Sacramento

A: Valdez, now 32, was paroled from an 18-year prison sentence he received on Oct. 13, 1995 after pleading guilty to counts of voluntary manslaughter, court records show.

Valdez, who was 16 when he shot and killed two men as they sat in their car, was eligible for parole at age 25, The Bee reported.

Valdez was convicted for the 1993 slayings of Christopher Dominguez, 19, and Christopher Jiminez, 24.

Valdez claimed the men were about to run him over in the 3700 block of 21st Avenue off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and that he fired in self-defense. The prosecution said the shootings resulted from an argument over a girl.

Jail records show Valdez is being held without bail on suspicion of evading a police officer and driving in a reckless manner. He also is being held on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon with the likelihood of causing great bodily harm.

The Bee could not determine the details of the case against Valdez.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened to Luis Rodriguez Jr. who killed two California Highway Patrol officers along I-80 in 1978? Anonymous, Davis

A: Luis V. Rodriguez Jr., now 54, is serving a life sentence with no parole after being convicted in 1981 for the 1978 murders of California Highway Patrol officers William "Mike" Freeman, 35, and Roy P. Blecher, 50, after he was stopped on Interstate 80.

His companion, Margaret Klaess, served two years in prison for aiding and abetting Rodriguez and later testified against him.

Rodriguez's seven-month trial turned into a 16-year ordeal, including a number of appeals based on the claim that juror misconduct and a judge's pressuring of the jury deprived him of a fair trial, The Bee reported.

His only success, however, was getting his death sentence reduced to life without parole.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

Q: What happened to the "Greenhaven Rapist", Rick Sasaki, who committed multiple rapes in Sacramento's Greenhaven area in 1982? Anonymous, Sacramento

A: Sasaki, now 51, completed his 16-year prison sentence in 2000 and was living in Sacramento County as a registered sex offender, according to prison records and the California Attorney General's Office. The Bee could not confirm that he is living at the address listed as his residence, however.

Sasaki received the maximum prison terms for two "vicious and violent" sexual attacks in 1982, The Bee reported when Sasaki, then a 25-year-old salesman, was sentenced on Jan. 5, 1984.

Sasaki, a 1976 graduate of McClatchy High School, also admitted - but did not plead guilty to - a third assault in 1982 on a woman in the Greenhaven area. He also was a suspect in an attempted sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl in March 1983.

He dropped a knife given to him at the supermarket where he once worked during a fifth attempted attack in 1983 as the victim fought him off.

The knife eventually led investigators to Sasaki and fingerprints connected him to one attack.

Police narrowly missed catching him after he assaulted his first victim when he jumped out a second-floor apartment window as officers burst through the front door, called by a concerned neighbor of the victim.

For a complete list of questions answered by Sacto911, click here.

From Kim Minugh and Andy Furillo:

Sacramento police have arrested a 20-year-old man in connection with Saturday morning's fatal shooting outside the Center Court restaurant and night club in Natomas, according to authorities.

Detectives allege Nicholas Newsome shot and killed David Blanks, 22, in a gang-related dispute, said Sacramento police Officer Konrad von Schoech. Both the victim and the suspect are from Sacramento and are associated with gangs, von Schoech said.

Newsome was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail early Monday morning on suspicion of murder, according to booking records. He declined a request to be interviewed by The Bee on Monday afternoon.

Witnesses told detectives they heard the suspect's group of friends and the victim's group of friends arguing before the shooting, which was reported just before 2 a.m. in the 3600 block of North Freeway Boulevard, von Schoech said.

Blanks was pronounced dead at the scene.

Gang detectives assisted in the investigation and arrested Newsome inside the movie theater next to Arden Fair Mall, von Schoech said.

Newsome, who is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday, has a history of gun possession, according to Sacramento Superior Court records. In 2008, he pleaded no contest to carrying a .9 mm handgun and a .357 revolver "capable of being concealed" when he wasn't the registered owner, court records show. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail and four years of probation.

Also in 2008, Newsome pleaded no contest to a felony count of falsely identifying himself to a police officer and received 15 days in jail and three years of probation, court records show. Earlier that year, he pleaded no contest to driving erratically while evading a peace officer and driving under the influence, both misdemeanors, according to records. In that case, Newsome was sentenced to 180 days in jail and three years of probation.

From Chelsea Phua:

A shooting suspect surrendered late Monday after a brief standoff with law enforcement officers in Sacramento.

Police said they received a report of a woman being shot in her shoulder at about 10:45 p.m on Mack Road near Brookfield Drive.

While police were interviewing the victim, Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies spotted a vehicle matching the description of the suspect's vehicle.

They gave chase, which ended at Center and Forest parkways. As law enforcement officers surrounded him, the suspect stayed inside his vehicle for a brief time before surrendering.

The woman was being treated at an area hospital late Monday.

From Chelsea Phua

Sacramento firefighters and police responding to a report of a burglary Monday night rescued an elderly woman from her burning home in the 7300 block of Windbridge Drive, authorities said.

Fire officials said details of the incident that happened shortly before 9:40 p.m. still are not clear, but said the woman initially was confused and thought someone had broken into her home, not realizing that it was on fire.

Police officers called for the fire department and firefighters found the woman in the back bedroom. She was taken to hospital with minor injuries. A fire captain suffered a laceration to his hand during the rescue and was also taken to hospital.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, fire officials said.

From Nicole Williams:

The Sacramento County Coroner's Office today identified the 18-year-old Sacramento man who died in an apartment complex near American River College on Wednesday afternoon.

Isaac-Michael Bartkovsky was found by Sacramento County sheriff's deputies in a second-story apartment in the 4600 block of Orange Grove with a wound to his upper body, after a man called 911 about 2:30 p.m. to report that his friend had died from a gunshot wound, according to a news release.

Paramedics arrived shortly after and pronounced the man dead.

Authorities are waiting for an autopsy to determine if the man was killed or his death was accidental, according to earlier Bee reports.

Witnesses reported seeing two men leaving the apartment at the time of the shooting. One of the men was the caller who reported the shooting.

Department spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran said the caller told authorities in a second 911 call that he had run to an apartment in the 2900 block of Marconi Avenue.

A few hours later, authorities also found the other man witnesses reported seeing. Both men were questioned Wednesday and released, Curran said.

From Matt Weiser and Bill Lindelof:

Fire investigators say today that a refrigerator might have provided the "ignition source" to detonate a cloud of insecticide in a Citrus Heights apartment -- a bug bomb explosion that caused walls to separate from the roof.

Three families were left homeless in Citrus Heights on Sunday after the explosion that was triggered by overzealous use of insecticide foggers.

A tenant of the three-unit apartment building in the 7500 block of Cook Avenue was trying to deal with a cockroach infestation when he activated 10 cans of insectide fogger in the apartment, said Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District Capt. Christian Pebbles.

"Metro Fire Arson unit cannot rule out the refrigerator as the ignition source," Pebbles stated in a release.

There was no fire in the building, but the explosion caused major structural damage, forcing the building to be condemned, Pebbles said. The three families occupying the building got help Sunday from the Red Cross to find temporary housing. No one was hurt in the explosion.

"We're lucky because there was flying glass all the way across the street," Pebbles said. "We had massive damage to the entire building. We have structural bearing walls blown out."

He said the tenant had asked his landlord for help with the insect problem but received no response. But using 10 foggers in an apartment was "well over the recommended limit" for deploying the devices, Pebbles said.

The California Department of Pesitcide Regulation warns that in typical residential use, label directions call for only one or two 8-ounce cans of fogger.

Label directions advise users to turn off ignition sources such as gas pilot lights and electrical appliances such as air conditioners and refrigerators that might produce a spark when they cycle on and off, the department said in a press release.

Propellants used in most foggers are flammable.

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From Matt Weiser:

A man was rescued by boat from Lake Natoma Sunday after falling from a cliff along the lakeshore and severely injuring his leg,

The incident occurred at about 7 p.m. when the man in his mid-40s was watching his son jump off a shoreline feature called China Wall into the lake. When the man walked closer to the cliff edge, he slipped and fell 40 feet down to the water's edge, said Capt. Christian Pebbles of the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.

Fire rescue personnel responded to the scene by boat. With help from the Folsom Fire Department, the victim was recovered and transferred to a waiting ambulance and then to a hospital. Further information was not available late Sunday, but his injuries were not considered life-threatening.

Pebbles said the cliff soils are notoriously loose and unable to support a lot of weight.

"Don't stand or hang out toward the edge of cliffs along the American River Parkway," Pebbles said.

From Bill Lindelof

A bizarre home invasion in South Sacramento -- in which an intruder made a victim crawl into his own attic and shot at a door because he feared somebody was behind it -- has ended peacefully.

The suspect, age 32, was taken into custody by Sacramento police. He has not yet been identified. Police believe he may have been under the influence of drugs.

Sgt. Norm Leong said the department received word of shots fired in the neighborhood near Cosumnes River and Franklin boulevards about 4 a.m. While units were in the neighborhood, police dispatchers received a cell phone call from a resident on Tyndall Court summoning help because there was an armed gunman in their home.

Leong said police later learned from the residents that a man entered the unlocked garage and began knocking loudly on the door to the house. One of the residents opened the door and discovered the man armed with two handguns.

The suspect corralled the family -- five children and three adults -- into the garage. He then forced one of the adults to walk about the house.

At one point, he incorrectly remarked that one of the residents was a police officer, said Leong. At another point, he thought someone was lurking behind a door.

"He said he would kill the person he thought was behind the door so he shot," said Leong. "Luckily, there was nobody there."

Then, the suspect told one of the victims to climb into the attic. The man complied and the suspect followed.

"But the suspect fell off of the ladder and then bizarrely, pushed the guns away from himself and gave up," said Leong. "The hostages were all able to get out unharmed. The suspect eventually came out on his own and was taken into custody."

A SWAT team responded and made sure there were no more suspects inside the house. The victims, including children whose ages range from an infant to about 10 years old, did not know the suspect.

From Chelsea Phua:

Sacramento police detectives are asking the public's help to solve the cold-case murder of a 19-year-old Redding girl whose body was found in 1983 and remained unidentified for more than two decades until recent DNA results determined who she was.

According to a news release, Elizabeth Nichols died from being physically assaulted and her body was spotted by a passer-by in a drainage canal near Interstate 5 and Del Paso Road on March 4, 1983.

Nichols' mother, Alice Nichols, said her daughter went missing on Feb. 19, 1983.

Authorities said she walked away from a mental hospital in Shasta County.

Alice Nichols said Los Angeles police detectives contacted her two years ago to obtain DNA samples from her because they believed a body they found there might have been her daughter's. The DNA didn't match Elizabeth Nichols but the samples were entered into a DNA database used by law enforcement.

The DNA did match the body of a woman found in Sacramento.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Alert at 916-443-HELP or text in a tip to 274637 (CRIMES). When texting, enter SACTIP followed by the tip information. Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.

From Bill Lindelof:

A highway chase that began in Elk Grove ended 90 minutes later in Sacramento when the driver was taken into custody.

The incident began about 6 a.m., when police received a call about a despondent person threatening his life. Officers made contact with the man near Bruceville and Calvine roads. When officers tried to speak with him, he took off and a pursuit began.

Elk Grove police chased the driver northbound on Highway 99. However, for the concern of other motorists, police dropped back and relayed information about the driver to the California Highway Patrol.

Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies eventually located the driver, who again refused to stop. The driver, headed downtown, spoke by cellphone to fire department dispatchers, who relayed information to the CHP.

"All our concern was to see if we could contact him wherever he was going to stop and end it there," said CHP spokesman Officer Jason Gonzales. "But of course, when confronted by the officers, he didn't want to stop."

The pursuit ended near Bercut Drive and Richards Boulevard. At 7:27 a.m. officers took the man into custody after evacuating some of the area.

From Sarah Frier:

A grass fire consumed about 200 acres along Interstate 5 and Hood Franklin Road on Thursday afternoon, fire officials said.

No structures were damaged and no one was injured. It took 30 to 45 minutes for 12 engines from the Cosumnes Community Service District and helping agencies to get the fire under control by about 4:35 p.m., spokesman Steve Geissinger said.

Smoke slowed traffic on Interstate 5, he said.

Five small fires sprang up around the same time and firefighters were able to put out four of them quickly, Geissinger said.

The fifth grew to about 150 acres, burning from Interstate 5 to Franklin Boulevard, but didn't jump the street to the residential side, he said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

From Bill Lindelof:

A Sacramento man is under arrest after allegedly making hundreds of nuisance and false calls to the 911 emergency assistance system.

The California Highway Patrol took Jamie Best, 35, of Sacramento into custody Friday night. He is suspected of making more than 300 cell phone calls to 911 from Dec. 30 to Jan. 16.

What began as "vulgar messages" evolved into false calls of shootings and eventually a bomb threat to a state facility, according to the CHP.

Best was taken into custody in south Sacramento after reportedly placing 83 calls to 911, according to the CHP.

Phony or nuisance calls to 911 waste the time of officers and dispatchers, taking them away from legitimate service to the public, the CHP said

From Dave Richie

A burglary at a check-cashing business and attempted break-ins at a bank and motorcycle shop along the Highway 50 corridor kept at least a half dozen El Dorado County sheriff's deputies busy during the long New Year's weekend.

In all three cases, the only reported losses involved property damage.

Deputies responded to a burglary alarm about 3:30 a.m. Saturday at Advance America, 3964 Missouri Flat Road, Diamond Springs. They found a shattered glass door and evidence that someone had gained entry to the business. The culprits tried unsuccessfully to open or pry loose a safe anchored to the floor in a back room, according to an incident report.

The same night deputies responded to another alarm caused when a rock was tossed through the front window at T-Bonez, 4020 Durock Road, Shingle Springs.

And about a half dozen deputies performed a security check Friday night when a rock was thrown through a window near the ATM at Wachovia Bank, 4095 Cameron Park Drive. A bank manager had arrived to check on the damage about 8:30 p.m. She told deputies she could not be sure that no one was inside.

Family members have identified the man presumed dead after his car plunged into the Sacramento River on Sunday as 48-year-old Steven Wayne Coward of Discovery Bay, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Coward's body has yet to be found, although a boot belonging to him was found lodged between the brake and clutch of his 2003 Mercedes Benz as it was pulled from the river, said CHP spokesman Officer Mike Bradley.

The accident occurred about 7 p.m. Sunday along Grand Island Road, three miles southeast of Highway 160. Jeri Joanne Lyons-Thompson, 45, of Brentwood in Contra Costa County, also died in the crash. Her body was was found floating in the river shortly after the accident.

The CHP is still investigating the crash, Bradley said.

From Art Campos:

Making an emergency call on a cell phone in Roseville just got easier, faster and more direct.

The change ends a longstanding problem in which some people calling 911 on their wireless phones in Roseville would be connected to the California Highway Patrol, instead of to the city's police and fire communications center.

On Tuesday, the communications center and local wireless companies completed a nearly two-year project to have direct connections on all wireless and landline calls, the Roseville Police Department announced in a news release.

"Seconds count in an emergency," Teresa Murray, the department's support commander, said in the news statement. "Cellular callers no longer have to take the extra step of talking to a CHP dispatcher and waiting to be transferred. Callers are directly connected to us the first time, and we can get emergency units rolling faster."

Drivers dialing 911 from Interstate 80 while passing through Roseville will still have calls answered directly by the CHP, said Dee Dee Gunther, the Police Department's spokeswoman. The cell towers have three "sectors," each pointing in different directions, which allows those sectors facing the freeeway to continue routing emergency calls to the CHP.

Gunther said the new system also eliminates the need for cell phone users to program a seven-digit emergency number into their cell phones to reach Roseville's communications center.

The center installed a new 911 cell handling system in the fall of 2006, she said. The system is capable of receiving identification and geographic location information from wireless phones.

In January 2007, the first of seven wireless company providers was switched over to the direct connection, she said. The six other companies were switched over in the next 18 months, she said. The final one received direction connection Tuesday, she said.

Gunther said Roseville received funding assistance for the upgrade from the state of California's 911 fund, which is maintained by a statewide surcharge on telephone bills.

From the Associated Press:

A 3-year-old girl in Guthrie, Okla., used the simple song lyrics "911 green" to call 911 and get help after her pregnant mother fainted.

Jessica Eaves taught her daughter, Madelyn, the song a week before she fainted due to a medical condition called vasovagal syncope.

When the 24-year-old and 3-months-pregnant Eaves fainted, Madelyn picked up her mother's BlackBerry phone.

She pressed 911 and the green button and was connected to a dispatcher.

In the recently released 911 call, Madelyn was able to answer questions about her house and cars outside that led emergency workers to the home.

And this isn't the first time Madelyn has used a phone to call for help for her mother.

Eaves first learned of her condition a year ago and taught her daughter the lyrics "green, green, green."

When Eaves lost consciousness back then, Madelyn picked up a cell phone and pressed the green button which called the last person Eaves had called and that person called for help.

Click here to hear an audio clip of Madelyn trying to describe her mother's condition and here to hear her talking to the 911 dispatcher.