A 24-year-old Santa Rosa, California man was arrested in late October for allegedly stabbing and decapitating his grandmother in her home on October 26 then allegedly fleeing with her head, CBS News reported.
The suspect was quickly identified as Luis Gustavo Aroyo-Lopez and a manhunt ensued. Aroyo-Lopez was apprehended in San Francisco the day after the murder.
According to the Santa Rosa Police Department, officers were called to the victim’s home at about 3:40 p.m. on October 26 after receiving reports of a possible murder.
When officers arrived, they found the decapitated body of a woman inside the home. The woman had been stabbed and her head was not found. Police suspected that Aroyo-Lopez took it with him when he fled.
Police revealed last Monday that the victim’s head was found near a creek on Saturday, October 28, KRON reported.
According to one witness, Aroyo-Lopez was seen walking toward his grandmother’s home around noon on the day of the murder. He knocked on the door and his grandmother greeted him and invited him inside.
About three hours later, the witness said she heard a friend of the grandmother running for the house and screaming that the victim had no head.
In a statement on Monday, the Santa Rosa Police Department said that detectives from the Violent Crimes Investigations team confirmed that Aroyo-Lopez stabbed the victim in “a targeted attack” and left the scene with her head. Investigators recovered multiple weapons from the residence.
At the time of his arrest, Aroyo-Lopez was on post-release community supervision having recently been released from prison for charges of assault with a deadly weapon and possession of weapons.
