4 men detained in killing at beach near Jenner

Four men were detained Sunday by Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies in connection with the shooting death of a man whose body was found in a state beach parking lot south of Jenner.

The men, whose names weren’t immediately released, were detained in the Duncans Mills-Monte Rio area at about 1:15 a.m. They were in a car that matched one seen speeding away from the area of Blind Beach, a law enforcement source said.

Just moments earlier, a state park ranger found the victim's body in the beach's parking lot, just south of Goat Rock.

The ranger was headed to an unrelated call at another beach further south when he noticed the black car with several occupants speeding away, a source close to the investigation said.

While checking the parking lot, the ranger spotted the body and alerted sheriff’s deputies.

The crime scene is about four miles south of the site where a young Ohio couple was shot to death as they slept side by side on a beach north of Jenner in 2004.

Deputies at the scene Sunday referred inquiries to Lt. Rob Giordano, head of the department’s violent crimes investigation unit. He didn’t return calls Sunday.

Throughout the morning, detectives and crime scene investigators examined the Blind Beach parking lot, a small paved offshoot from Goat Rock Road that overlooks the distinctive rock outcropping.

After the body was removed by the coroner at midday, the parking lot was empty, a two-foot wide pool of blood visible from several yards away.

Deputies responding to the park ranger’s 1:15 a.m. call arrived from the east on Highway 116 and saw the black car. The deputies detained the four men for questioning, the source said.

No guns were found, the source said.

Detectives spent much of the day Sunday rounding up scent-trailing dogs, including some from other counties, and metal detectors to search grassy areas along Highway 116 between the coast and where the men were picked up. In addition to the parking lot, at least two other crime scenes were set up along the Russian River where detectives suspect the men may have tried to dispose of evidence.

Detectives called in extra deputies to guard the large scenes.

By early afternoon, search and rescue experts armed with metal detectors had gathered to methodically search the riverside terrain along Highway 116 near Laurel Dell Avenue and Willow Creed Road.

At sheriff’s headquarters, crime scene investigators also were examining the men’s car, including taking casts of the tire treads, potentially to determine if any matches could be made at any of the scenes.

For several hours Sunday morning, park rangers turned motorists away at the Highway 1 entrance to Goat Rock Beach. All other beaches in the area remained open.

The shooting is the second homicide in the unincorporated county this year.

A man arrested in the Feb. 6 shooting death of Jorge Eric Balbuena, 27, was charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Sheriff’s detectives have yet to solve the slayings of Christian camp counselors Lindsay Cutshall, 22, and Jason Allen, 26, who were each shot in the head and left in their sleeping bags at a beach north of Jenner in 2004.

You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 568-5312 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.