A California man was captured after a two-day U.S. Marshall manhunt over the decapitation of his grandmother.
A friend of 64-year-old Elvia Lopez-Arroyo called police on Thursday after they checked in on her and found her body in a grisly scene at her Santa Rosa home.
Police say the woman was decapitated and her head was missing from the scene.
They identified 23-year-old Luis Aroyo-Lopez, her grandson, as their suspect and mounted a search for the man after a witness said they saw him flee on foot. Police initially said he should be easy to identify based on the large pro-marijuana tattoo on the side of this face.
Two days later, he was identified and arrested in San Francisco. Aroyo-Lopez is being charged with his grandmother’s murder.
On Saturday, the decapitated head of the victim was discovered at the the south bank of the Santa Rosa Creek.
Aroyo-Lopez had been previously convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and weapons possession in a separate case. He had only been released from prison the day before the alleged decapitation. He has also been charged for suspicion of violating the terms of his post-release control in addition to murder.
He was not granted bail and remains in custody.
A GoFundMe charity account has been set up to help the family pay for the woman’s burial.
“She was a loving person and she adored so dearly all her grandchildren. She didn’t deserve what was done to her,” wrote Maribel Maldonado about her grandmother.
Residents of the neighborhood said they were shocked by the crime and said that decapitations were very rare for the nice neighborhood.
Here’s a local news report about the horrific incident:
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