Father and Son Arrested in Killing of Covelo Mom; Teenage Brother Still Sought
Two brothers allegedly fled Mendocino County with help from their father
Three men are in custody and a teenage boy is being sought in the shooting death of a Covelo woman at an illegal marijuana cultivation site earlier this month, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said Friday.
Josepha Littlewolf Basurto, 31, was found fatally shot the night of July 9 inside a pickup in the 22000 block of Rifle Range Road, northwest of Covelo, after a family member who had spent hours looking for her located her and called 911. An autopsy on July 15 found she died of a gunshot wound to the torso, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide, the Sheriff’s Office said.
In an updated account released Friday, the Sheriff’s Office said investigators identified two brothers who had been staying at the grow and who were reportedly involved in the shooting. The older brother was identified as Elias Garcia-Acosta, 22, of Adelanto; the younger is a 17-year-old boy whose name is being withheld because of his age. Both are wanted on warrants charging homicide, the agency said.
The brothers left the scene and were not located during the initial investigation, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Investigators determined that the boys’ father, Elias Juarez-Garcia, 44, of Porterville, had driven to the property the night of the killing, taken his two sons, and left Mendocino County.
Investigators developed probable cause that Juarez-Garcia knew his sons were involved in killing Basurto and helped move them hundreds of miles away to avoid arrest, the agency said, and placed a stop-and-detain alert on his vehicle with the state Department of Justice.
With help from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office, Juarez-Garcia and Garcia-Acosta were found together the evening of July 17 in Adelanto, in the vehicle investigators say the family used to leave the Covelo area, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Both were arrested without incident — Garcia-Acosta on a warrant charging homicide, and his father on a warrant charging accessory after the fact. The 17-year-old was not with them. The two men were driven to the Mendocino County Jail and booked July 21, jail records show. Garcia-Acosta is being held without bail and Juarez-Garcia in lieu of $350,000 bail.
The third man, Jesus Hernandez Sosa, 35, of Covelo, had already been arrested in connection with the case. The Sheriff’s Office said Sosa was contacted in Sonoma County on July 10 and determined to be involved in the illegal cultivation operation. He was arrested on felony marijuana charges — including cultivation with illegal water diversion — but was released July 13 after the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office declined to file those charges, the agency said.
Investigators later developed probable cause that Sosa was also involved in the shooting, and a Superior Court judge approved a warrant charging him with homicide and with personally using a firearm in a felony resulting in death, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Sosa was arrested July 23 at the Mendocino County Superior Courthouse in Ukiah, the agency said, after investigators learned a vehicle linked to him might be in the area and canvassed for it. He was booked into the county jail and is being held without bail.
An arrest is not evidence of guilt, and prosecutors had not filed formal charges as of Friday. The warrants describe what investigators told a judge they believe; the men are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Basurto was a mother of four children between the ages of 4 and 13. Her family remembers her as a loving mother and friend, a skilled horse trainer, and a California Native and powwow dancer. A GoFundMe organized by her mother and aunt seeks to cover funeral costs, travel for relatives coming from Utah, and the family’s attendance at court proceedings.
The scene where Basurto was found was a large illegal marijuana cultivation operation, which investigators examined as part of the homicide inquiry. The investigation has drawn in the Mendocino County Major Crimes Task Force, the District Attorney’s Office, the county’s Marijuana Eradication Team, and criminalists from the California Department of Justice’s Eureka laboratory, along with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators are continuing to work with authorities in San Bernardino County to arrest the 17-year-old still being sought on a homicide warrant, the Sheriff’s Office said. Anyone with information may call the Sheriff’s Office dispatch center at 707-463-4086, option 1, or the anonymous tip line at 707-234-2100.