Good work

◼ Three in custody in Sanders case
Thirty-nine days after Ezra Sanders was gunned down in his McKinleyville trailer, three suspects are in custody and suspected of committing his murder.

Jeffrey Alan Burgess, 39, of Eureka; Ruben Anthony Peredia, 33, of Ukiah and Lukus Larry Mace, 31, of Arcata, were all booked into Humboldt County jail Friday on suspicion of murder and attempted armed robbery, according to investigators on the case....

...The case caught a break late last month when the Fortuna Police Department recovered a stolen green GMC truck. When Garey and Dunn looked through the stolen/embezzled vehicle report from CHP, they found Burgess listed as the primary suspect.

Mace and Peredia were both taken into custody in March on unrelated cases.

On March 13, Garey and Dunn served a search warrant on a home on Eureka's Lewis Avenue for the Sanders case, and took Mace into custody on an unrelated outstanding warrant.

Similarly, Peredia was taken into custody March 1, after he was involved in a car crash on Kneeland Heights Road that led to his arrest on two outstanding felony warrants, and suspicion of theft. In relation to the Sanders case, investigators also served a search warrant on Peredia's Higgins Street home in Eureka.

Then, this past Friday, after re-interviewing a number of witnesses, Dunn and Garey had Burgess come in for an interview, and they said the picture began to become clear.

”That interview led to his arrest for being the primary person involved (in Sanders' murder),” Dunn said, adding that after Burgess' arrest, Peredia and Mace, both already in custody, were also booked on suspicion of attempted robbery and murder for the Sanders case.

The story that Dunn and Garey have pieced together is that Mace, Ruben and Burgess allegedly conspired to drive from Eureka to McKinleyville in order to use a gun and a knife to rob Sanders, whom they knew, for drugs and money. When Sanders resisted, raising his fists to fight the three men, they allegedly shot him and fled the scene in a panic without taking anything....

...Both Dunn and Garey said assistance from a variety of agencies -- including CHP, the Arcata Police Department, the Trinidad Police Department, the Eureka Police Department, the Fortuna Police Department and the Department of Justice -- was integral in making the case.

UPDATE:
◼ Fourth suspect sought for Sanders killing 4/9/09