Forestville Triple-Murder Suspect May Have 2 Associates
FORESTVILLE (CBS SF) -- The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday released photos of two possible associates of a Colorado man who has been arrested for allegedly killing three men during a marijuana deal near Forestville earlier this month.
Mark William Cappello, 46, of Central City, Colo., was arrested in Mobile, Ala., on Thursday by the Mobile County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff's detectives have an order to pick him up there and will bring him to Sonoma County sometime next week, sheriff's Lt. Dennis O'Leary said.
"We believe the two associates and Cappello were seen at service stations between Colorado and the Bay Area several days before the homicides," O'Leary said.
"We don't know where they're from. We suspect it's the Denver area, but we're speculating," he said.
The images released by the sheriff's office Wednesday afternoon are from a video taken at a Chevron gas station in St. Helena the day before the murders, O'Leary said. There also is a photo of a gold early 1990s Ford Ranger.
The victims—Richard Lewin, 46, of Huntington, N.Y.; Todd Klarkowski, 42, of Boulder, Colo.; and Raleigh Butler, 26, a former Sonoma County resident who was living in Truckee—were found shot to death in a bedroom in a cabin Butler's mother was rending at 9707 Ross Station Road, near Forestville.
Butler's mother was out of the area when the slayings occurred. Butler's brother and his brother's girlfriend discovered the bodies around 3:15 p.m. on Feb. 5, according to the sheriff's office.
It's believed the shooting happened around noon as the three victims were waiting for someone who was going to sell them marijuana, O'Leary said.
The sheriff's office believes the marijuana deal went sour. A small amount of processed marijuana was found at the scene.
O'Leary said there was a lot of blood but no sign of a struggle, and a weapon was not found at the scene.
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