Neighbor reported Land Park prowler hours before Sacramento woman found dead in burned home
A Sacramento woman says she’s almost certain the man who broke into her neighbor’s Land Park home and killed her was the same man she saw prowling through the neighborhood that night.
Susan Guerrero said she called Sacramento police late Thursday to report the man she saw in the street in front of her home after he tried to open her front door. She says police officers arrived, didn’t find the suspect and drove away after calling off a helicopter search of the area of 11th and 12th avenues, between 22nd and 23rd streets.
Guerrero eventually went to sleep and woke up Friday morning to learn that someone broke into a nearby house. Authorities found her neighbor, Mary Tibbitts — who went by her middle name, Kate — dead in her burned home in the 2200 block of 11th Avenue, just east of Freeport Boulevard.
Homicide detectives have said the suspect killed Tibbitts’ dogs, sexually assaulted her, killed her and set her home on fire.
“This is my theory, that he went around the side, he wanted to get into somebody’s house,” Guerrero told The Sacramento Bee on Tuesday. “My gut says that the bastard was hiding in her back yard and waiting. You know, I’m sure he’d seen the cop SUV come by and then got in her house.”
Police helicopter searched area
Officer Karl Chan, a Sacramento Police Department spokesman, said patrol officers were called that night to a home near 12th Avenue and 23rd Street for a report of a suspicious person in the area.
“Officers responded and conducted a canvass of the area, which included a search of the area with a police aircraft, and were unable to locate anybody matching the description,” Chan said in an email to The Bee.
A Sacramento police helicopter was called to assist officers on the ground in the area of 12th Avenue and 22nd Street for a possible break-in before determining the break-in was “unfounded,” according to the Police Department’s helicopter activity log posted online.
The police spokesman declined to say whether detectives believe the suspicious person reported that night in Land Park was the man who killed Guerrero’s neighbor. Chan said there are several details about this homicide that remain under investigation.
Troy Davis, 51, who initially was identified as person of interest over the weekend, has since been arrested and charged on suspicion of murder, arson, burglary and sex assault in connection with the 61-year-old woman found dead in the burned 11th Avenue home. Detectives believe the victim and Davis did not know each other.
Two law enforcement sources not at liberty to speak publicly told The Sacramento Bee on Tuesday that Davis first showed up on the front porch of another Land Park home Thursday night, apparently masturbating in an act caught on a Ring doorbell camera.
Neighbor saw shirtless suspect
About 11:30 p.m. Thursday, Guerrero spotted the prowling suspect on the street. She described him as a man standing about 5-foot-8 with black dreadlocks and no shirt, wearing blue jeans, a brown belt and “these sparkling white tennis shoes.” She also said the suspect was carrying a bunch of clothes in some type of bag; the clothes were hanging out of the bag.
She said she heard someone trying to turn the knob on the iron gate at her front door moments before she saw the suspect standing in the street. Guerrero later spotted throw rugs on her porch that looked like someone had moved them to search for a spare door key. The following day, she let police take the throw rugs to be analyzed for evidence, she said.
Tibbitts had lived in her 11th Avenue home since 2012 along with her two dogs, Molly and Jenny. Neighbors say Tibbitts had adopted two Golden Retrievers from an animal shelter. She chose to rescue these dogs because they were elderly and not likely to be adopted.
Guerrero said it’s so hard for her to understand how anyone could hurt her and her dogs that way, mainly because she doesn’t want to think about it.
“I know in my heart that when Kate went to bed, those dogs were either in her room or on her bed,” Guerrero said. “Those were her babies, they were her family.”
Makeshift memorial at home
People have created a makeshift memorial outside Tibbitts’ house. They left at her front door flowers, greeting cards and even a box of dog biscuits with a silver bow on top. Neighbors remained in shock Tuesday, some of them not willing to talk about Tibbitts’ death. Others, like Guerrero, described her as a kind woman with a friendly face who was always out with her dogs.
Mark Sousa, who lives two houses away, said she was pretty active in the community, volunteering her free time to animal charities. He didn’t hear any commotion coming from her house that night.
“There was just smoke that happened early that morning, and most of us just thought it was the fires from Caldor,” Sousa said about the burning wildfire in El Dorado County. “We didn’t realize it was the fires next door.”
He said she was just a really friendly person, and news about her death has been difficult for the neighborhood.
“The fear is a little less now because they caught the perpetrator,” Sousa said standing on his porch Tuesday. “But it’s just more of, just sadness we feel for her and the dogs and how they passed. We hope they didn’t suffer.”
The Police Department asked anyone with more information about this homicide to call officers at 916-808-5471 or Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers at 916-443-4357. Tips can also be submitted confidentially through the P3 Tips website and app.
This story was originally published September 7, 2021 at 4:07 PM.
