The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office identified the body found offshore of Humboldt Bay on Wednesday as Fortuna resident Matthew Finley. He was 67. The brief release offered few details but said the U.S. Coast Guard made the recovery. According to media reports, the body was spotted by someone out fishing in the ocean yesterday afternoon. […]
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Sheriff’s Office: Two Killed in Kneeland Plane Crash
Two people were killed when a small plane crashed near the Kneeland airstrip yesterday morning, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office reports. According to a press release, emergency services were dispatched to the airport at 11:15 a.m. to a report of a fire and possible crash, and arrived to find wreckage in a steep ravine north […]
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SECOND UPDATE: Victim of Fatal Shooting Identified
SECOND UPDATE: The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has identified the man fatally shot near Bridgeville on July 14 as Rafael Orlando Castillo-Cortes. He was 34. According to the updated release, Castillo-Cortes, a Sacramento resident, knew the man arrested as a suspect in his death. An autopsy is scheduled for later this week. UPDATE: The Humboldt […]
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Prominent Foster Parent Arrested in ‘Lewd Acts’ Investigation
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office arrested a prominent local foster parent yesterday on suspicion of committing lewd acts against a minor. In response to a Journal inquiry seeking more information about the circumstances of the arrest, sheriff’s office spokesperson Samantha Karges said William Scott Peugh, 46, was arrested at 4:30 yesterday afternoon on suspicion of […]
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Dive Team Set to Look For Missing Fishermen
Humboldt Bay Fire’s Dive Recovery and Rescue Team is preparing for a recovery dive in Humboldt Bay, looking for a father and sonwho went missing near King Salmon while boating in Humboldt Bay on Tuesday. The team, working in conjunction with the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District and California Fish and Wildlife, performed […]
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Murder Defendant Allegedly Assaults Correctional Officer
Accused murderer Austin Michael Medeiros attacked a correctional officer in the Humboldt County jail Wednesday with an “improvised weapon,” the Sheriff’s Office announced today. Medeiros, 27, of Rhode Island, was arrested April 10 in Santa Cruz while allegedly in possession of 30 grams of psychedelic mushrooms and trying to steal a boat about a week […]
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UPDATE: Coast Guard: Active Search for Missing Father, Son Suspended
UPDATE: The Coast Guard reported Wednesday night that the active search for a father and son who went missing Tuesday after launching a 16-foot fishing boat into Humboldt Bay has been suspended. “Coast Guard Air Station Humboldt Bay MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crews, Coast Guard Station Humboldt Bay 29-foot Response Boat-Small crews and Coast Guard Air […]
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UPDATED: Fatal Trinidad Fire Under Investigation
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Division is investigating a Dec. 23 fatal fire that killed a woman who was in a trailer parked behind a residence on Teh-Pah Lane on the Trinidad Rancheria. Fire personnel responded to the scene around 9:14 p.m. to find the trailer engulfed in flames and the woman was […]
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34 People Infected in County Jail COVID Outbreak
The COVID-19 outbreak at the Humboldt County jail has now grown to infect 28 inmates and six correctional officers after a dozen more inmates tested positive for the virus over the weekend. Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Samantha Karges said in an email to the Journal the outbreak remains isolated in a single housing unit […]
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Six More Jail Inmates Test Positive for COVID-19
Another six Humboldt County jail inmates tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday amid an outbreak that has now infected 21 people, including six correctional officers. Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Samantha Karges said in an email to the Journal that all the inmates who tested positive yesterday were in the same housing unit as the other […]
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Sheriff’s Office Investigating Suspicious Death in Blue Lake
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of a man found by a trail near Taylor Way and the Mad River Levee in Blue Lake just before 1 p.m. on Sunday. According to a news release, the man’s death is under investigation by Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Division and is considered […]
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3rd UPDATE: Man Shot by Police Died at the Hospital
3rd UPDATE: The man shot in the area of Mad River Road and Miller Lane in Arcata this morning by law enforcement responding to a suspicious person call was declared dead after being taken to the hospital, according to an update. The man’s identification was not immediately released. The HCSO reports multiple officers with the […]