Two Ordered to Stand Trial in Healdsburg Pot Garden Murder

A judge has ordered two Sonoma County men to stand trial for the murder of another man at a marijuana garden west of Healdsburg in October.

Sidonio Cruz-Santos, 35, of Santa Rosa, and Augustin
Zepeda-Onofre, 24, of Windsor, are charged with the shooting murder of 46-year-old Gabino Lopez-Santiago at a marijuana garden in the 4000 block of Chemise Road on Oct. 16.

They also are charged with intentionally discharging a firearm andcultivating marijuana. Additionally, Cruz-Santos is charged with intimidating a witness or victim.

The defendants are scheduled to re-enter pleas to the charges in Sonoma County Superior Court on March 8.

At a preliminary hearing on Monday, Lopez-Santiago's
brother-in-law, Ramon Lopez-Velasco, 28, testified that he had just started working at the garden shortly before the slaying, and was led to believe the marijuana was being grown for disabled people to use for medicinal purposes.

He said his duties were to guard the camp from thieves and to help process the marijuana.

He said he was nearby at the time of the killing and heard the gunfire but did not see the shooting.

Lopez-Velasco testified that after hearing the gunfire, he saw his brother-in-law's body on the side of the road and was ordered to remove it.

He said he feared for his life, and did so, dumping the victim's body several miles away on Mill Creek Road.

He then contacted Healdsburg police about the slaying.

Lopez-Velasco pleaded guilty to being an accessory to cultivating marijuana and faces three years' probation when he is sentenced May 17.

Shortly after the murder, Sonoma County sheriff's officials said Lopez-Santiago, who had recently arrived in the area from Mexico, might have been killed when he changed his mind about working at the marijuana garden.

By Bay City News Service.