The story of a murder that happened 42 years ago just had its closing chapter written, as the killer of Vacaville teen De Anna Lynn Johnson got a life sentence, even though he’s already serving a life sentence for the murder of another woman.  

A particularly brutal murder of a 14-year-old in Vacaville in 1982 went unsolved for decades. Vacaville teen De Anna Lynn Johnson was found badly bludgeoned November 16, 1982, strangled and with her skull smashed by cinder blocks, with her attacker having kneeled on her chest.

The case went cold all the way until 2017, when Vacaville police determined the killer was Marvin Ray Markle Jr. Markle was found guilty of the crime in March, and now the Bay Area News Group reports that Markle has been sentenced to life in prison for Johnson’s murder.  

Markle was already in prison, and already serving a life sentence for the separate 2001 murder of Butte County resident Shirley Ann Pratt. He’ll now serve consecutive life sentences.

“We all know not all murders are created equal,” Solano County chief deputy district attorney Paul Sequeira said in a statement to the News Group, citing this killing’s “great bodily injury” and “a high degree of cruelty and viciousness.”

Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams added her own statement thanking the Vacaville Police Department for their years of “continued efforts” on the case. “From that moment of finding De Anna Lynn Johnson’s lifeless body on the railroad tracks and all the years since, Vacaville Police Department never once gave up,” that statement said, according to SFGate.

Related: Cold Case Murder of Woman Found In Tilden Park In 1990 Is Solved Through DNA [SFist]

The Vacaville Police Department is mourning the loss of 32-year-old Officer Matthew Bowen, who was struck from his motorcycle and killed last week by a woman who was not only allegedly intoxicated, but is also accused of intentionally running Bowen down.

A routine traffic stop went terribly wrong in Vacaville last Thursday, when a motorcycle officer conducting the traffic stop was run down by a motorist and killed, according to Sacramento’s KXTV. Officer Matthew Bowen had barely been on the force for a year, and had previously served with the Concord Police Department from 2019 to 2023. He was 32.

But now that police are charging the driver, the circumstances of the fatal crash are becoming much more bizarre. KTVU reports that the 24-year-old driver Serena CJ Rodriguez of Auburn is being charged with driving while intoxicated, and intentionally running Bowen down. (Per KTVU, Rodriguez also goes by the name Kali Rose Kahn.) The Solano County DA's Office said in a statement to that station that Officer Bowen "was intentionally killed while he was engaged in the performance of his duties.”

“This is a very, very tough day for Solano County," Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams said at a Monday press conference, according to a separate KXTV report. “On behalf of the Solano County DA's office, I want to extend our condolences to Officer Matthew Bowen's wife, his two young children, his parents, his law enforcement family at the Vacaville police department and to all of our partners in law enforcement."

Abrams did not say why her office believes Rodriguez killed Officer Bowen intentionally. But according to the Vacaville Reporter she will be charged with first-degree murder, and enhancement charges of killing an on-duty police officer and use of her vehicle as a deadly weapon.

Sacramento’s KOVR was also there for Rodriguez’s first court appearance Monday, an arraignment that only lasted about three minutes. She did not enter a plea, requested a public defender, and exhibited what that station calls “combative behavior.” She refused to identify herself, repeatedly told the judge she wanted to file a "928," with the judge reportedly responding, "I don't know what that is."

Rodriguez’s next court appearance is scheduled for July 22.

KXTV also reports that Rodriguez was already on probation in Placer County for an undisclosed reason, failed to appear for a previous court hearing, and there was a warrant out for her arrest at the time of the crash.

Vacaville Police Chief Ian Schmutzler told the Vacaville Reporter last week, “Matt [Bowen] was a magnetic personality, someone that always had a smile on his face, a positive attitude, loved his family dearly, loved this community and because of that we are all broken-hearted this evening.”

There are fundraisers for Officer Bowen’s family via the Peace Officers Research Association of California and the Vacaville Police Foundation.

Related: Oakland Police Officer Shot and Killed In 'Ambush' Near Jack London Square [SFist]

Image: Vacaville Police Department via Facebook

A former attorney and Mormon bishop in Vacaville is on trial for the sexual abuse of his then-11-year-old adopted daughter, and other church associates are giving some pretty damning testimony on the witness stand.

In today’s episode of It’s Often Clergy People and It's Never Drag Queens embroiled in real-world child sexual abuse scandals, the Vacaville Reporter brings us the news of the ongoing trial of James Glenn Haskell, a former attorney and Mormon bishop who now faces 16 counts of child sexual abuse in a Solano County Superior Court. Haskell and his wife had four adopted children, all of whom have since been removed from the home.

The most troubling allegations involve the eldest daughter, who was 11 years old at the time of the alleged crimes. Wednesday’s witnesses included a Solano County Child Welfare Services employee who’d visited the home, and two friends of the family and/or church associates who witnessed various suspicious behaviors at pool parties.

The now-16-year-old victim testified herself Monday of last week, describing “inappropriate touching” and a “tickling game” with which Haskell allegedly engaged with the children. She was 11 and 12 years old at the time, and also described that once, as punishment, the parents took away her clothes and made her wear a garbage bag.

On Monday of this week, the East Bay Times reported that jurors heard a phone call police had secretly wiretapped, in which another Mormon church congregant confronted Haskell with the allegations. “She said you touched her private parts underneath her underwear,” the caller told Haskell.

The Times reports that Haskell could be heard “stammering and breathing in exasperation” upon being confronted. And as the conversation goes on, Haskell does seemingly admit guilt, saying “Tell her I’m sorry,” and “If she gives us another chance, we’re all about supporting.” He also added, “I was wrong. I will do better.”

Haskell’s trial continues Monday, though he’s currently out of custody on $240,000 bail.

Related: Richmond Pastor Arrested on Charges of Sex Crimes Allegedly Against Underage Church Members [SFist]

Image: Superior Court of Solano

Some serious shade is coming down on two alleged sunglass shop thieves who've made local headlines. The SF woman who was arrested getting off a plane in Hawaii last month has been extradited back, while a Solano County jury convicted a woman who pulled a $40,000 Sunglass Hut heist.

Sunglass shops often make an enticing target for organized retail theft, because the product is compact, out on open shelves, and has great resale value. But now we have news that two accused Bay Area sunglass snatch-and-grab suspects are in custody and looking at lengthy sentences.

While an 18-year-old woman in Solano County was just convicted for her role in a $40,000 sunglass heist at the Nut Tree Plaza’s Sunglass Hut, here in SF, a suspect who created some media fascination last moth for getting arrested as she got off a plane in Honolulu on Valentine’s Day has been extradited back to SF and charged.

The SF suspect, 22-year-old Denayaha Duree, stands accused of “organized retail theft incidents at Stonestown Galleria and Union Square,” according to a release from DA Brooke Jenkins. That release alleges that Duree and another suspect hit an unnamed shop at Stonestown on January 29 and “fled the store with 47 pairs of sunglasses, worth over $20,000.”

Duree was extradited and was arraigned on March 1, though court records show she was booked February 29, and she’s charged with two counts of organized retail theft with intent to sell merchandise, two counts of second-degree commercial burglary, and two counts of grand theft of personal property.

KPIX adds that she’s also being charged for May 2023 thefts at “two luxury brand stores in downtown San Francisco.”

Duree remains in custody at SF County Jail, and Jenkins’s office says her bail was set at $100,000. The statement from Jenkins’s office also adds that bail amount took into account “other pending matters before the San Francisco Superior Court and another county,” so it sounds like there may be more charges coming for Duree.

And it sounds like Duree’s alleged accomplice is still at large. The DA’s office notes that this is still an active investigation. If you have any information, you’re asked to call the SFPD tip line at 415-575-4444, or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with “SFPD.” Tipsters can remain anonymous.

Elsewhere in sunglass theft news, the case of the $40,000 heist at the Nut Tree Plaza in Vacaville has resulted in a guilty verdict for 18-year-old Karakia Williams, according to the Bay Area News Group. A Solano County jury found her guilty on four burglary and theft counts for a December incident where she and accomplices stormed the Sunglass Hut and made off with trash bags full of sunglasses. Williams faces up to five years in prison, and will be sentenced March 21.

Related: Two East Bay Men Get Three Years In Prison for String of SF Snatch-and-Grab Sunglass Thefts [SFist]

Image: wu yi via Unsplash

An inmate work crew and a California Department of Corrections guard intervened in a stabbing along a Solano County bike trail on Tuesday, possibly saving a woman's life.

The incident happened near the Alamo Creek bike trail, in the area of Brookdale Court in Vacaville. As Bay Area News Group reports, police were called to the area around 10 a.m. after the inmate crew, which was doing clean-up duty in the area, saw the stabbing in progress and stepped in to stop it. The victim was an 18-year-old woman.

The group, along with the corrections guard, stepped in and detained the suspect until police arrived, as KCRA reports.

Police arrived and performed life-saving measures on the female victim, who was said Wednesday to be in stable condition.

The 18-year-old suspect, whom Vacaville police identify as Damarco Ross Parker, is now being held in Solano County Jail on attempted murder charges.

In a Facebook post, Vacaville police confirmed that the victim did not know her attacker.

Vacaville police issued a statement saying they were "incredibly thankful for the CDCR employee and inmates whose bravery undoubtedly saved the woman’s life."

Police say that they believe this was an isolated incident.

Top image: Google Street View

A yet-unidentified Caltrans employee was killed in the line of duty by a hit-and-run driver Friday morning some three miles west of Vacaville, and lanes of traffic are just beginning to reopen late Friday afternoon.

A Caltrans worker was killed on the job Friday morning in a hit-and run accident on Interstate 80. KPIX reports that the fatal accident was three miles west of Vacaville, “near the Cherry Glen Road on-ramp along westbound I-80.”

The above report from Sacrmenato’s KOVR was shot while the body was still on the highway, so there’s only so much they can show. That segment was shot for the 12 Noon news, and westbound traffic only backed up more in the hours to follow.

According to KOVR, highway patrol officers say the driver did drive away from the scene after hitting the Caltrans employee. That driver was quickly apprehended and is in custody, but neither the driver nor the victim’s name has been released yet.

Two lanes of westbound traffic were closed off for several hours, leading to traffic backups as far away as Dixon. Those lanes were reopened by 3:30 p.m. Friday afternoon.

Per KOVR, there “have been 189 employees killed while on the job along California roadways since 1921.” Just last month, the Bay Area News Group ran a memorial series dedicated to those 189 workers.

Related: Unicyclist Dies In Collision With Recology Truck In Hayes Valley [SFist]

Image: @RepGaramendi via Twitter

A young male black bear has been causing a big stir in Vacaville this week, and prompting multiple warnings from local police to avoid the animal.

The bear was first spotted near the edge of town Sunday night, KTVU reports. Officers think the 250-pound male bear is likely 2-3 years old, and was probably wandering around looking for food when it made its way to the city.

Monday morning, Vacaville Police posted on Facebook warning the bear had reached the North Orchard area and was a little too close to several schools for officers to be entirely comfortable.

“If you see the bear, the safest course of action will be to avoid him, keep doors and windows closed, and consider bringing any pets inside,” the Vacaville Police Department warned.

Officers set up shop at Orchard, Hemlock, and Jepson schools to keep one eye on students making their way to class, and the other on the bear. The Department also temporarily closed Hemlock Street between North Orchard and Fir Street, and limited traffic on North Orchard Avenue to only those entering the school.

Vacaville Police checked in with the Department of Fish and Wildlife to figure out how to safely handle the situation. The department says bear sightings are not uncommon in Solano County, but that people should keep their distance if they do see a bear.

“Remember the safest bear encounter is one we prevent – please do not seek out the bear for curiosity, photographs, or selfies.”

So far as police know, the bear never approached anyone or posed an immediate threat, though at one point it was spotted running and napping in yards, hopping fences, and climbing up a tree in someone’s yard.

"Since this bear hasn’t acted aggressively we are going to back off and we are going to give it the chance to go back to its habitat on its own," Ken Paglia with the Department of Fish and Wildlife told KTVU Monday.

NBC Bay Area reported the police were still keeping an eye on the bear Tuesday, and Solano NewsNet said the bear made its way back to the wilderness later that day.

“Thanks for.. BEARing with us!!” Vacaville police joked on social media.

The Police Department gave some advice on what to do if you spot a bear moving forward, as well as how to deter them from coming onto your property.

“Bring in those trash cans after pickup,” said Vacaville Police. “If you see a bear in town in the future, avoid it and give it the opportunity to avoid you. If the bear doesn’t yet see you, back away to a safe distance. As always, please call us – our public remains our eyes and ears.”

Photo via Vacaville Police Department

Last Wednesday, April 21, a Ring doorbell system filmed a police officer in Vacaville throwing a 17-year-old boy with autism to the ground; the officer during the incident also allegedly punched him in the head.

In a time defined by technology — which has given birth to smartphones and WiFi-enabled home surveillance systems — episodes of police brutality are easier to capture than ever before. This was such the case last week when a Ring camera captured a California teenager being tossed to the ground and beaten by an arresting police officer.

As reported by CBS News, Adam Wolf, Preston Wolf’s father, wrote on Facebook, his son was "aggressively approached" near Casa Verde Court around 2:30 p.m by a Vacaville police officer.

The video — originally published by NBC Bay Area — shows Preston standing with his scooter on a sidewalk in a suburban neighborhood when a police officer exits his vehicle and begins walking toward him. It's this time when footage of the incident shows the officer aggressively yelling at Preston to sit down.

Preston in the footage can be seen abiding by the officer's demands, sitting down with his legs crossed. But Preston's compliance in the manner was apparently insufficient.

The officer continues to berate the teenager in the footage, at one point asking him to put his legs out; Preston does not immediately do so — which was then followed by the officer throwing his scooter several feet away. Things began escalating quickly after Preston visibly flinched after the officer attempted to grab him.

Soon after the teen recoiled, Preston can be seen running away when the officer who again attempts to lay his hands on the teenager, but this time he was successful; the teenager was swiftly pushed to the pavement and allegedly punched in the head.

"You punched me in the fucking head," Preston is heard yelling at the officer. Before two other officers arrived, but now before the arresting policeman replied to Preston that he was "gonna get hurt."

"Don't make me hurt you more," he added. "Don't make me hurt you more."

Preston, who is described by his father as suffering from both attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism, remarks that “a child with autism, he doesn’t like to be touched and has that child confront him with no explanation.”

"When he backed away, that officer felt the need to grab him and throw to the ground and climb on top and punch him in the face," Adam adds.

Vacaville police have now said there was a reason for the officer to stop the teenager.

“Vacaville police responded to a stabbing or assault with a deadly weapon reported to be a knife or a pipe,” said officer Katie Cardona of the Vacaville Police Department to NBC Bay Area.

According to the news outlet, Preston had allegedly engaged in a fight with a 16-year-old boy; that teenager had apparently called authorities on him. Preston was eventually arrested on “assault with a deadly weapon” and was detained for one hour — on the scene — before he was released to his stepmother with a citation for resisting arrest.

Per the Chronicle, the Vacaville Police Department is looking into “all aspects” of the incident.

“Not all cops are bad but there are bad apples in every bunch and the behavior that I saw in that video was disturbing and sickening and it shouldn’t have happened,” Adam added in his conversations with NBC Bay Area about his son’s arrest.

But anyone who's ever accidentally kept a rotting apple among otherwise healthy fruit knows how that decay can spread rather fast— and attract unwanted fruit flies.  

Related: Video of an Armed Robbery On a Woman's Doorstep Has an Oakland Neighborhood on Edge

Racist East Bay Letter Writer Arrested By San Leandro Police; Released Due to Backed-Up Bail Schedule

Image: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

A Vacaville family recently received an anonymous letter telling them to find another place to live, and saying that the condition of their front yard was “dragging down the higher standards of the older neighborhood with established residents.”

As the Chronicle reports, 43-year-old Marc Yu, a San Francisco native, discovered the letter partially sticking out of his mailbox while leaving for work.

The letter, which Yu posted to Facebook, reads:

“This is not the ghetto. We may sound harsh, but your interracial family is not welcome here. We will contact your landlord and tell them to evict you if you don’t vacate in the next 60 days.”

The joke is on the anonymous racist neighbor, though: Yu owns his house.

"It's 2019," Yu writes on Facebook. "I can’t believe this shit still happens."

Since posting the letter, Yu has received plenty of support from friends and neighbors, all of whom have said his family is of course welcome.

Lt. Mark Donaldson with the Vacaville Police Department tells the Chronicle that the letter is "disturbing and disappointing and not representative of the community."

Yu tells ABC10 that he and his wife aren't even the only mixed-race couple in the neighborhood. "My wife is 100 percent Mexican. I'm Chinese and Filipino," Yu tells the station. "The letter basically targeted my wife and I being interracial couple."

Yu admits that his yard hasn't been the cleanest since the family moved in in November, and says that another anonymous note — a less condescending and racist one, he says, though probably from the same individual — came in his mailbox two months ago asking him to clear his lawn or else a complaint would be filed with the city. That complaint was filed, and the family did some cleaning up after a code inspector paid them a visit.

Speaking to ABC10, Yu has a message for this intolerant, cantankerous neighbor: "We want our simple life to be left alone. You aren't going to drive us out of Vacaville. We love Vacaville."

A sea lion swimming upstream like a salmon made its way all the way inland to Vacaville, California yesterday morning, surprising locals who spotted it in the canal along Leisure Town Road. According to local police, who bestowed the name "Leisure" on the wayward animal after a brief naming contest, the Marine Mammal Center from Sausalito arrived in town in the afternoon to rescue Leisure, who then appeared trapped by high concrete walls. While in the morning the sea lion was "basking in the cool waters of Ulatis Creek," per Vacaville PD, in the afternoon he'd "retreated to a drainage pipe" and either couldn't get out or refused to. Out of view and perhaps stuck, as of last night, "a number of rescue efforts were attempted but sadly none worked," and the Marine Mammal Center called off its operations until morning.

The closest body of water to the area is the Sacramento River, 50 miles north of Vacaville, and the Associated Press and CBS 5 report that experts are unsure how Leisure found his way to his odd destination. It's possible, they say, that the animal was traveling up the river and took a wrong turn, following a series of agricultural ditches and waterways to arrive at the canal.

Fortunately, the situation for Leisure wasn't dire. “Although this is a rare location for a rescue call, this animal is in very good body condition and active, so we are hoping it just made a wrong turn,” Dr. Cara Field, a staff veterinarian at the Marine Mammal Center, told the news outlets, adding that Leisure was likely a young male “Our hope is that the animal makes his way back out of the pipe on his own so we can attempt another rescue.”

Vacaville Police Department via Facebook

After last night's failed attempts to coax the animal out of the pipe and send him on his way, Leisure poked his head out this morning, KCRA writes, and was headed back down the canal in the direction of open waters this morning.

At ease, Leisure — be free!

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An inmate went missing from a minimum-security correctional facility in Vacaville late Sunday night, and he remains at large, as CBS 5 is reporting.

It's unclear if 29-year-old Jarvis Brown poses any sort of danger to the public, but he was serving a three-year sentence in minimum security for reckless driving and evading police. He was being housed at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, but a corrections spokesperson Krissi Khokhobashvili tells CBS 5 that does not mean he has any sort of psychiatric condition. Although she's not confirming that he doesn't.

"He’s a minimum-security inmate and he did not escape from the secure perimeter," Khokhobashvili says, adding, "They’ll find him. We always find them.”

Brown is an African-American male, 5' 9", and weighs 165 pounds. He went missing sometime after 11:30 p.m. Sunday, and was discovered missing during a head count at 12:30 a.m. He had previously been serving his sentence at a facility in Contra Costa County but was transferred.

Five men were arrested Friday by the Vacaville Police Department for allegedly stealing almost $5,000 in Red Bull from area supermarkets. Police caught up to the men on I-80 and managed to take the four adults and one minor into custody — in the process discovering the large stash of energy drinks in the back of a rented U-Haul.

"Red Bull gives you wings...or in this case, a pair of shiny bracelets and some time in jail," reads the Vacaville Police Department Facebook page. "That's what five men from Oakland discovered after stealing $4,700 in Red Bull!"

According to police, the men had been spotted at one grocery store stealing a cart of the highly caffeinated and addictive drink before loading it into a van. When police caught up to the group and found a van overflowing with the sugary beverage, they suspected the five had likely targeted numerous stores.

KRON4 reports that the four adults were booked into county jail, while the minor was sent to juvenile hall. Adult suspects' ages ranged from 19 to 30, and charges include burglary, possession of stolen property, and conspiracy. One of the suspects was also charged with a probation violation and driving on a suspended license.

Photo via Vacaville Police Department.

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Did you know it's swarming season for bees right now?!?! Those of us who don't live in the country maybe don't have to worry quite so much, but with all the various rooftop hives that hobbyists have installed around town lately, maybe we should! An elementary school in Vacaville was "briefly invaded by tens of thousands of bees" on Tuesday afternoon, prompting a rescue response by professional beekeepers.

Some 80,000 bees had to be removed from a tree outside Foxboro Elementary School in one of an increasing number of reported swarming incidents.

As new queens are hatched in the spring, bee colonies split, you see, and swarms go off in search a new place to make a nest. A bee expert quoted by KTVU assures us these are not killer bees, and even though a swarm might seem scary, they're pretty harmless. "When they swarm, they don't have a hive to defend, so they're less aggressive. They're also engorged with honey, because they bring as much of a food supply with them as they can."

We do not understand this, and it still would freak our shit out. Apparently, the kids at the school all stayed pretty calm, and know stingings were reported.

This news follows on that recent report, however, of the swarm of killer bees who terrorized the Giants during a spring training game in Arizona last month. So, we're glad we don't live in Arizona.

[KTVU]
[AP]