A Humboldt County jury today found a man guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Bernhard “Ben” Bertain, who died on Christmas in 2018, three days after interceding in an altercation at the Burre Center in Eureka. Bertain, 58, was struck several times with a skateboard by Jason Ryan Barnes, now 48, while coming […]
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Man Fatally Stabbed in Chaotic Arcata Fight
Arcata police are investigating a fatal stabbing that occurred at about 1:20 this morning. Arcata Police Chief Brian Ahearn said the incident began outside the Arcata Theater Lounge on G Street when a man confronted another man he’d had a “beef” with and stabbed him. The fight moved into the 600 block of 10th Street […]
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NCJ Preview: Heartbreak in Loleta, a New Restaurant Model
We’re running through what we know so far about the triple homicide on the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria in Loleta that took the lives of Nikki Dion Metcalf and Margarett Lee Moon, both 40, and Moon’s 16-year-old daughter, Shelly Autumn Mae Moon. This week’s cover story goes into the Humboldt County Sheriffs Department’s response […]
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Details Emerge in Triple Homicide; Loleta Community ‘Heartbroken’
The 18-year-old Loleta man accused of fatally shooting three people — including a 16-year-old girl — at a home on the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria Reservation on Wednesday morning was known to the victims and was a “guest in their house,” Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal told the Journal this morning. Deputies […]
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Suspect in Bear River Triple Homicide Arrested
An 18-year-old has been arrested in Utah on suspicion of murder in the deaths of three people at a home on the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria Reservation. Loleta resident Mauricio Eduardo Johnson is being held on a no-bail warrant. According to a news release, the sheriff’s office investigation “determined two vehicles associated […]
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UPDATE: Suspect Arrested, Victims of Triple Homicide at Bear River Rancheria Identified
UPDATE: An 18-year-old has been arrested in Utah on suspicion of murder in the deaths of three people at a home on the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria Reservation. Loleta resident Mauricio Eduardo Johnson is being held on a no-bail warrant. For more information on the arrest, click here. PREVIOUS: The Humboldt County […]
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Lawson Civil Trial Pushed Back
The trial date for Charmaine Lawson’s civil lawsuit alleging the city of Arcata violated her constitutional rights by inadequately and incompetently investigating the 2017 stabbing death of her son has been pushed back to late this year. The case — in which Lawson alleges racism and discrimination contributed to the city’s “deliberately indifferent” policies, practices, […]
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Suspect in Samoa Homicide Arrested
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office reports a person of interest in a Nov. 15 homicide was arrested Dec. 10 by a Eureka Police Department officer who recognized him. Eureka resident Travontae Javoni Hutson, who was taken into custody at a residence on West Hawthorne Street after initially fleeing the officer, was booked into jail on […]
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UPDATE: Homicide Investigation Into Shooting In Samoa
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the fatal shooting of a McKinleyville man just before midnight Sunday in Samoa as a homicide and is asking for the public’s help. According to a news release, deputies responded to New Navy Base Road near the Milwaukee Memorial and found Perry Zebulon Bailey, 34, suffering from multiple […]
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APD Releases Information About Assault Death Last Week
Arcata Police released the name of the man who died last week reportedly after his brother hit him on the head with a wine bottle. According to Arcata Police Sergeant Chris Ortega, a call reporting a “physical altercation between two brothers residing in the same house” came in on Monday, October 26, about 4:35 p.m. […]
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Garberville Homicide Victim Identified as 21-year-old Redding Woman
The Humboldt County Coroner’s Office has positively identified the human remains discovered near the south Fork of the Eel River in Garberville Oct. 9 as those of 21-year-old Kadie Lynn Jones, of Redding. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is investigating Jones’ death as a homicide after her body was found in a brush fire near […]
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Humboldt Man Found Dead in Pelican Bay Prison Cell
Pelican Bay State Prison authorities are investigating the death of Joshua E. Kirtley, who was in prison for the 1998 murder of Paul Sanders at a marijuana grow in the Southern Humboldt area, as a homicide. Staff found 42-year-old Kirtley dead in his cell on Oct. 17. Jesse A. Rippee, Kirtley’s cellmate, who was in […]