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UPDATED: Homicide in Eureka Home; Caller Tells Police of ‘Large Amount of Blood’ - Hank Sims/Lost Coast Outpost
The deceased have been identified but their names are being withheld until family members have been notified.
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Anyone with information about this investigation should call the Eureka Police at 707-441-4044. - Times-Standard - Breaking News
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Harris Street double murder confirmed as a homicide - John Chiv/Words Worth
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LOCO commenters raise good questions in the Harris Street murder - John Chiv/Words Worth
UPDATES:
Times-Standard - The Humboldt County Coroner’s Office has identified one of the Eureka double homicide victims as Richard Charles Storre. Storre, 60, ran Freshwater Farms, a native plant nursery in Myrtletown. The name of the second victim has not been released.
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Updated: Arrest made in Eureka double homicide, 1 victim ID'd by coroner - Times-Standard 3/27/2014
Eureka Police have made an arrest in the murder of two Eureka men.
On Thursday at 5:57 p.m., Eureka Police officers were dispatched to 2109 Harris Street in Eureka on a citizen's report of an injured person in the house at that location. Officers entered the house to render first aid and found a man deceased with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head. Officers checked the rest of the house for other persons who may need help and found a second person deceased as well. He too suffered from a gunshot wound to the head.
Based on evidence collected at the scene investigators believe the crime was a double homicide.
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EPD: Suspect in Last Night’s Double Homicide in Custody - Hank Sims/Lost Coast Outpost
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Vincent Sanchez arrested in double murder homicide on Harris - John Chiv/Words Worth
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2nd Update: Police Investigating Eureka Double Homicide; - Thadeus Greenson/The Journal
The suspect arrested after a double homicide in Eureka on Wednesday evening has a criminal history that includes one case that captured local headlines a few years back.
According to court records, Vincent Earnest Sanchez, 29, was arrested for separate DUI offenses in 2007 and 2008 and later convicted of both. In 2009, he broke into the Ingomar Club armed with a long sword and a hatchet and was alleged to have caused more than $10,000 in damage before officers arrested him with the help of a police dog. The Times-Standard covered the arrest at the time.
Sanchez was charged with second-degree burglary, resisting arrest and vandalism in the case, though the latter two charges were later dismissed as a part of a plea deal that saw him sentenced to serve 288 days in county jail and three years probation. Last year, Sanchez was again arrested for felony vandalism, but the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor in a plea agreement that saw him sentenced to three years probation.
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Suspect arrested in double homicide investigation in Eureka - KIEM
The Humboldt County Coroner confirms Sanchez is the half-brother of one of the victims, 25-year-old Lance Delbert Henry.
"They've known each other for a long time, so this wasn't a stranger on stranger kind of deal," Chief Mills said....
EPD officials confirm they responded to the 2100 block of Harris Street on Wednesday at about 6 p.m. after a friend of Richard Charles Storre went to check on him and found him severely injured inside the home. Police responded to the report and found Storre and Henry dead inside the home.
"It's pretty apparent to us that it looks like a gunshot wound," said Chief Mills.
According to police, the two victims and the suspect had been living together. A neighbor who did not want to go on camera told News Channel 3 that he had not heard any gun shots in the home, and that he would often see Richard Storre walking his dog outside. However, this week, he last saw Storre walking his dog on Sunday. Police say the murders could have taken place as early as Monday afternoon. Authorities also say that they believe the murders were a thought out process.
"I don't want to say premeditated at this point, but this was not a random act of violence," Chief Mills said.
A motive is still under investigation, and Vincent Earnest Sanchez has been charged with two counts of homicide and is currently booked in the Humboldt County Jail. There are no other suspects at this time.
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Victims in Eureka double murder knew suspect; arrested man was half-brother of one, lived in other man's home - Times-Standard Staff Report: Will Houston, Lorna Rodriguez, Melissa Simon and Kimberly Wear contributed to this report.
The victims of a double homicide in Eureka were a well-known Myrtletown native plant nursery owner and the half-brother of suspect Vincent Earnest Sanchez, who was arrested and booked into Humboldt County jail on two counts of homicide, officials said Thursday.
Freshwater Farms owner Richard “Rick” Charles Storre, 60, and Lance Delbert Henry, 25, were each found dead with a gunshot wound to the head after Eureka Police Department officers responded to a report of an injured person at a house on the 2100 block of Harris Street just before 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Henry is the half-brother of Sanchez, 28, who was detained at the scene and has a criminal record that included time in a state psychiatric hospital. The brothers had been staying with Storre, according to Humboldt County Deputy Coroner Roy Horton.
Horton said the victims had been dead for “a couple of days.”
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Autopsy: Double homicide victims killed by one gunshot each; police disclose additional information about crime scene - Will Houston/The Times-Standard 4/01/2014
(Eureka Police Detective Sgt. Bill) Nova said that autopsy estimates the murders occurred anywhere from “24 to 48 hours” before the bodies were found.
The autopsy report showed that there were no signs of struggle or additional injuries other than the gunshot wounds, Nova said.
The suspected killer, 28-year-old Vincent Sanchez, of Eureka, was detained at the scene and later booked in the county jail on March 26 where he was denied bail. Sanchez pleaded not guilty to the two counts of murder at the Humboldt County Superior Courthouse on March 28.
Nova said Sanchez and Henry -- who were half-brothers -- had been living at Storre's residence for an extended period of time. Storre was the owner of Freshwater Farms, a native plant nursery in Myrtletown. As to whether Sanchez had remained at the residence after the murders were committed, Nova said he was unable to comment.
HISTORY:
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Suspected burglar found with sword, hatchet - Sean Garmire/The Times-Standard 1/14/2009
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Eureka Car-Kicking Spree Ends When Suspect Kicks Police Car - Hank Sims/Lost Coast Outpost 2/11/2013
