Luis Gustavo Aroyo-Lopez (Santa Rosa Police Department)
Authorities in California are searching for a 24-year-old man who they say killed one of his female relatives, decapitated her, and then fled with the victim’s head.
Luis Gustavo Aroyo-Lopez, of Santa Rosa, California, is wanted by law enforcement on a homicide warrant for his arrest in the grisly crime, police said.
According to a news release from the Santa Rosa Police Department, officers responded to a residence at about 3:40 p.m. on Thursday in the 2500 block of Pomo Trail regarding a possible homicide. Upon arriving, first responders entered the residence, where they found a dead woman.
Police said the woman had been decapitated and that her head was not found at the residence.
Following a preliminary investigation, detectives said they determined that Aroyo-Lopez killed the victim before leaving. Aroyo-Lopez was recently released from prison and is said to be a relative of the victim.
“It is believed Aroyo-Lopez took the victim’s head with him when he left the residence, and he may still be in possession of it,” police wrote in the release.
Authorities described Aroyo-Lopez as Hispanic, about 5 foot 6 and weighing about 150 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a long-sleeve black hooded sweatshirt or jacket, black pants, and white shoes. He has a large tattoo of the number “420” and a marijuana leaf on the left side of his head. Aroyo-Lopez is believed to have left the Pomo Trail home, walking south on Iroquois Street.
According to the release, Aroyo-Lopez was placed on probation. He had been incarcerated following convictions on assault with a deadly weapon and weapons possession charges. Those charges were not related to the victim in this incident.
One of the victim’s neighbors spoke to San Francisco CBS affiliate KPIX about what she saw before and after the victim’s gruesome murder. The neighbor, identified only as “Jessica” because she feared for her safety if the suspect were to return, told the station that she saw Aroyo-Lopez casually walking in the direction of the victim’s home at about noon on Thursday.
“He just walked a normal pace and, made an exact turn up the walkway, and knocked on the door. I paused over here with my dog just to make sure my neighbor knew who he was,” Jessica told the station. “[The victim] was surprised and happy, and I heard the word ‘you.’ They were just, you know, talking and then the door closed, and I thought, ‘Phew! She knows the guy.””
But about three hours after she initially saw Aroyo-Lopez, Jessica said she heard a woman run out of the house in a panic after finding the victim’s headless body.
“She kept yelling ‘No head!’ and I wasn’t sure what she meant,” Jessica said, adding that the woman repeatedly went in and out of the victim’s house, apparently looking for the victim’s head. The woman who found the victim and was heard yelling was the victim’s sister, The Press Democrat reported.
Authorities said Aroyo-Lopez should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone who sees him should call 911 immediately. Anyone with information relevant to the case is urged to contact the Santa Rosa Police at 707-543-3590 or through the department’s tipline at www.srcity.org/CrimeTips. A reward of up to $2,500 is being offered for information leading to Aroyo-Lopez’s arrest.
Several neighbors reportedly told KPIX that Aroyo-Lopez was the victim’s grandson, but that information had not been confirmed as of Saturday morning.
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