Chico
police found the body of an elderly man early Sunday in the Avenues
The Sunday death of a
Chico resident has turned into a homicide investigation as officers found
evidence of vehicle-damage on the body.
Police reported that on
November 6, the body of an elderly man was discovered by Chico Police
Department in an alley on the 1200 block between Hobart Street and Citrus
Avenue.
Neighbors reported that
an individual may have been dead or sleeping in the alley, police
Lt. Rob Nerfield said.
“We got a call at 1:14
in the morning from a citizen who reported that he had seen someone lying down
in an alley on the 1200 block of Citrus,” Nerfield said, “and that he believed
that they might be dead.”
Officers soon determined
that the man was dead.
“We responded officers
to that scene and as they drove into the alley they saw a man down in the
middle of the alley, they checked him and determined that he was in fact
deceased,” Nerfield said.
Based on signs on the
body, officers determined that the man had been in a collision and that the
injuries sustained were most likely caused by a vehicle.
“As they were dealing
with him they saw evidence of a collision so they formed the opinion based on
the condition of the body that the person had been hit and possibly run over by
a vehicle,” Nerfield said.
People die, but not many from hit-and-run accidents according to Nerfield.
“We don’t often see
hit-and-run collisions involving death, although we have had at least one other
one this year,” he said, “in this past year I think we’ve handled five to
six fatal collisions.”
Investigators have identified a potential suspect.
“One of the officers
that was in the neighborhood and was assigned to what we would call canvas the
neighborhood for witnesses,” said Nerfield. “During that neighborhood canvas he
encountered a person who he believed had been involved in the collision and after some interaction
with that person he formed the opinion that he had been driving the vehicle and
had collided with the victim.”
Chico Police Department
have not identified the victim.
“We know that the victim
is I believe a 60-year-old male resident of Chico but apparently he was
currently homeless in Chico,” said Nerfield.
These are some of the
elements that go into these types of investigations according to Nerfield.
“Well, in effect, it’s a
homicide investigation, so we are doing some investigative steps to determine a
number of things. One is we, the Major Accident Investigation Team is trying to
determine the mechanics of the collision so in case like this that there are no
eyewitnesses that we know of.”
Police
are still piecing together what exactly happened.
“We are still in the
process of examining the suspect’s vehicle and the body of the deceased to try
to connect up the events and how mechanically, how did it happen.”
Although the suspect was
tested for alcohol on the scene, the details of that part of the investigation weren't
disclosed.
“It will be disclosed
during the trial,” said Nerfield. “We don’t typically disclose the results of
chemical tests but that information would likely come out in the trial.”’
The suspect was
arraigned Wednesday in Oroville and is awaiting his preliminary hearing.
“In the meantime we will
continue to put information together for the District Attorney prior to the
preliminary hearing,” said Nerfield.
By John Domogma