Butte County Sheriff’s Office makes arrest in three-year-old murder case

Nearly three years after the murder of John Prater, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office has made an arrest in the case.

Prater, 35 at the time of his death, was killed near the area of Crystal Pines Road in October 2017. Oroville man Larry Bonner, 54, was identified as a suspect over the course of the investigation, officials said Thursday when the arrest was announced.

While investigating the murder, detectives said they linked Bonner to unrelated cases of illegal firearm and narcotics possession. Bonner was arrested in September last year on those charges, then convicted and sent to prison for seven years.

Detectives said they obtained a warrant for Bonner’s arrest on one felony count of murder in July. Bonner was transported from San Quentin State Prison to the Butte County Jail on Aug. 11, according to a press release.

“I am proud of the persistent determination of the detectives who have worked throughout the years to bring justice to John and closure to his family,” Sheriff Kory Honea said in a press release.