Suspects Charged With Murder Of East Bay Sheriff's Volunteer
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Two suspects were charged with murder Monday for the brutal stabbing and burning death of a 21-year-old San Leandro woman who was an Alameda County sheriff's explorer.
Postal worker Laura Rodgers and Curtys Entoine Taylor, both 23-year-old Oakland residents, were arraigned Monday afternoon in connection with the death of Karla Ramirez, whose body was found in a creek at the Arroyo Viejo Recreation Center in East Oakland just before noon on Thursday.
Ramirez was a volunteer with the sheriff's explorer program, whose participants often go on to become law enforcement officers.
She had last been seen at about 10 p.m. on Wednesday when she dropped off a friend on 136th Avenue in San Leandro, police said.
Deputies located her vehicle at about 12:30 a.m. Thursday near Happyland Avenue and West A Street in Hayward, near Interstate Highway 880, but she has no known friends in that area, according to the sheriff's office.
Oakland police Sgt. Leo Sanchez wrote in a probable cause statement that officers who located Ramirez's body observed that she had sustained multiple stab wounds and had been set on fire.
Investigators learned that before Ramirez disappeared she was possibly going to meet with a woman later identified as Rodgers, Sanchez said.
When investigators arrested Rodgers late Thursday night, she told them she had planned for several days to kill Ramirez and had discussed her plan with Taylor, according to Sanchez.
However, Sanchez did not explain why Rodgers wanted to kill Ramirez.
Ramirez picked up Rodgers and Rodgers then lured her to drive to Arroyo Park and directed her to the creek area, Sanchez said.
Taylor told investigators after he was arrested early Friday morning that he was aware that Rodgers planned to kill Ramirez and had discussed that plan with her, according to Sanchez.
Taylor said he bought the gasoline can and the gas that were used to ignite and burn Ramirez and strategically placed the gas can and a box of matches near the creek, Sanchez wrote.
Taylor then waited for Rodgers, who is his girlfriend, to arrive with Ramirez and once Rodgers began assaulting Ramirez he helped her kill Ramirez and drove away with her afterward in Ramirez's car, Sanchez said.
Taylor told police that he and Rodgers discarded evidence, such as the knife, gas can, the clothing that Rodgers was wearing and Ramirez's belongings into a trash dumpster at the Days Inn in Hayward, according to Sanchez.
Police were later able to recover that evidence, Sanchez said.
The charging documents indicate that authorities think Sanchez was killed sometime before midnight on Wednesday, as the date of her death is listed as Nov. 2.
In addition to murder, Rodgers is charged with use of a deadly weapon for allegedly using a knife to kill Ramirez.
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