Quick Take
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office arrested 61-year-old Pajaro resident Bernardino Sanchez in connection to the body of a Watsonville resident found buried at the Pajaro River levee in April.
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office has charged a Pajaro man for murder in connection with the body of a Watsonville resident found buried at the Pajaro River levee in April.
Pajaro resident Bernardino Rickie Sanchez, 61, was arrested by Monterey County sheriff’s deputies on Friday, according to a statement from the county sheriff’s office. Detectives arrested Sanchez following interviews with multiple witnesses, which included people who live along the river levee. Sanchez was already in custody in the Monterey County Jail for an unrelated drug and weapons violation.
In April, Monterey County investigators discovered the body of 36-year-old Watsonville resident Jesus Alfonso Durate Figueroa by the Pajaro River levee west of the bridge that connects the community of Pajaro, in Monterey County, to Watsonville, in Santa Cruz County. Monterey County sheriff’s spokesperson Andres Rosas told Lookout the department had received information from anonymous sources that led to detectives finding the body.
Investigators were able to identify Durate Figueroa’s body after Monterey County officials were made aware of a missing person’s report filed in Santa Cruz County, said Rosas. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Lookout that the victim’s family submitted a missing person’s report in March after they did not hear from Durate Figueroa for a week, spokesperson Ashley Keehn told Lookout in April.
A second body was found near the Pajaro River levee almost a month after Monterey County officials discovered Durate Figueroa’s body. The two cases are unrelated, according to Rosas.
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