On Sunday, October 3, 2021, a Fish and Wildlife Game Warden found an abandoned vehicle on Mendocino Pass Road and located a dead, decomposing body in the trunk. The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department later determined the body belonged to an out-of-the-area man who was the victim of a homicide.
Yesterday and today, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office detectives have been actively serving a search warrant on a home on Covelo’s Henderson Lane that Captain Greg Van Patten said is thought to be connected “with the homicide in Covelo involving the deceased male in the trunk of the vehicle.”
Captain Van Patten told us the detectives were unable to finish processing the scene right away so, he said, “We held the location overnight and will resume scene processing today.”
A Round Valley resident told us approximately twenty undercover vehicles and twenty officers are at the residence and forensics teams appear to be digging up the yard.
Investigators have had to travel to “locations outside of Mendocino County,” Captain Van Patten said, in efforts to solve the crime.
Earlier this week Captain Van Patten characterized the investigation into the homicide as “time-consuming” because of its complexity and the fact the circumstances surrounding the man’s death seem to be a “body dump type of murder.”
Information regarding the victim was slow to emerge after its initial discovery to its advanced state of decomposition and though the victim has been identified, Captain Van Patten said earlier this week the next-of-kin had yet to be notified.
Previous Coverage
- Body Found Decomposing in Abandoned Vehicle Northeast of Covelo Identified as Mexican National
- Authorities Determine Decomposed Body Found in Vehicle Northeast of Covelo was a Murdered Man From ‘Out of the Area’
- Decomposing Body Found in Abandoned Vehicle by Game Warden, Says MCSO
- Dead Body Found in Trunk of Car Northeast of Covelo
