# Santa Rosa Grandmother Killing: Guilty Plea and 25-to-Life Sentence

- Link: https://thedarksideofhumanity.com/santa-rosa-grandmother-killing-guilty-plea/
- Published: 2024-04-15T04:20:21-04:00
- Author: Mandi Martyr

On the afternoon of November 2, 2023, Santa Rosa police found a woman’s body inside a house. She had been decapitated, and her head was not in the house. Within a day police had named the man they were looking for: her grandson, Luis Gustavo Aroyo-Lopez, who had walked out of state prison the day before. He was arrested two days later in San Francisco. In June 2024 he pleaded guilty to her murder and was sentenced to 25 years to life, plus a consecutive term for attacking a jail deputy. Santa Rosa, November 2, 2023 At about 3:40 p.m. on Thursday, November 2, Santa Rosa Police Department officers were sent to a house in Santa Rosa on a report of a possible homicide. Inside the house they found an adult woman, dead. “The adult female victim had been decapitated,” the department wrote. “The victim’s head was not located at the residence.” A neighbor told KPIX that around noon that day she saw a man walk to the house. “He just walked, a normal pace, and made an exact turn up the walkway and knocked on the door. I paused over here with my dog just to make sure my neighbor knew who he was,” she said. She heard the two talking. “She was surprised and happy and I heard the word ‘you.’ They were just, you know, talking and then the door closed and I thought ‘Phew! She knows the guy.'” About three hours later, she said, she heard a woman run out of the house. “She kept yelling ‘No head!’ and I wasn’t sure what she meant.” KPIX described that woman as a friend of the victim. The Wanted Bulletin Detectives from the department’s Violent Crimes Investigations team took over the case. Their first public release, headed “WANTED: Assistance Needed in Locating a Homicide Suspect,” said the initial investigation had found that Luis Gustavo Aroyo-Lopez, a Santa Rosa resident and a relative of the victim, had killed her before leaving the scene. “It is believed Aroyo-Lopez took the victim’s head with him when he left the residence and he may still be in possession of it.” The bulletin described him as about 5 feet 6 inches tall and 150 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, last seen in a long-sleeve black hooded sweatshirt or jacket, black pants and white shoes. He had a large tattoo of “420” and a marijuana leaf on the left side of his head. He was believed to have left the house on foot, heading south on Iroquois Street. Police said he had relatives in the San Joaquin Valley but did not know whether he was heading there. He was to be considered armed and dangerous. The Sonoma County Alliance Community Engagement and Safety Rewards Fund offered up to $2,500 for information leading to his arrest. The case number was 23-13955. One Day Out Aroyo-Lopez had just finished a state prison term for assault with a deadly weapon and weapons possession, in cases police said were unrelated to the victim. He had been released onto Postrelease Community Supervision. Officials said he left state prison on November 1, 2023, the day before the killing. “He was supposed to check in with the probation department by end of day Nov. 2 and he did not,” police spokesperson Sgt. Patricia Seffens told The Press Democrat. Transbay Transit Center, November 4 The Salesforce Transit Center (Transbay Transit Center), 425 Mission Street, San Francisco, 2018. A San Francisco officer on foot patrol spotted the suspect here on November 4, 2023. Credit: Frank Schulenburg / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Santa Rosa detectives worked with the U.S. Marshals Service to circulate his details to other California agencies. On Saturday, November 4, a San Francisco Police Department officer on foot patrol at the Transbay Transit Center, 425 Mission Street, spotted him. According to Santa Rosa police, the officer “recognized Aroyo-Lopez from the wanted person bulletins and immediately detained Aroyo-Lopez without incident.” He was held in San Francisco until Santa Rosa detectives arrived to take custody, then driven back and booked into the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility on two charges: murder, under Penal Code section 187, and violating his Postrelease Community Supervision, under section 3455. He was not granted bail. Seffens said the head was not in his possession when he was arrested. Santa Rosa Creek Santa Rosa Creek in Santa Rosa at high water. Place view only. Credit: Thewellman / Wikimedia Commons (CC0). The Prince Memorial Greenway along Santa Rosa Creek, downtown Santa Rosa. The victim's head was found on the creek bank beside the greenway on November 4, 2023. Credit: Wulfnoth of English Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain). Detectives kept searching. At about 7:30 p.m. on November 4, they found the victim’s head on the south bank of Santa Rosa Creek, beside the Prince Memorial Greenway, just east of A Street and south of downtown. Front Page Detectives, citing officials, put the spot about half a mile from where she was killed. The head was taken to the Sonoma County Coroner’s Office. Police said that multiple weapons had been recovered from the house, but that they would need further examination before the murder weapon or weapons could be identified. No cause of death has been made public. Police described the killing as “a targeted attack.” The Victim On Monday, November 6, the coroner identified the victim as Elvia Lopez-Arroyo, 64, of Santa Rosa, and police confirmed she was the suspect’s grandmother. In the same release they corrected his age: the first bulletin had said 24, but, “based on additional documentation provided by the family,” police said they believed him to be 23, born on March 22, 2000. Relatives later told The Press Democrat that she had six children, 32 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. They described her as a devoted Christian who loved cooking and gardening and was always a positive motivator. They said her grandson’s parents had been out of the picture and that she had essentially been his mother. A granddaughter, Maribel Maldonado, 30, said the killing was especially painful because it was committed by a member of the family. Spellings of the family names differ between sources. Santa Rosa police and the coroner gave the victim’s name as Elvia Lopez-Arroyo; The Press Democrat used Elvia Aroyo-Lopez. Police spelled the defendant’s name Aroyo-Lopez, and some outlets used Arroyo-Lopez. The Jail Attack While he was held in the Sonoma County jail awaiting trial, Aroyo-Lopez attacked a correctional deputy on December 24, 2023. He later pleaded guilty to battery on the deputy. At his sentencing, a victim advocate read a statement from the deputy’s husband: the deputy still suffered anxiety and vertigo from the battery and had undergone a change in personality. The Plea, June 4, 2024 He was charged with murder, and a preliminary hearing was set for June 4, 2024. Instead he reached an agreement with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to murder. Sentencing, June 27, 2024 The sentencing hearing before Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Vernon Nakahara on Thursday, June 27, lasted about an hour. Aroyo-Lopez, then 24, sat silently. Three family members spoke, and a victim advocate from the District Attorney’s Office read statements on behalf of three others. Several stressed that he had always wanted to be a “gangsta” but was actually a “coward.” “What he did has left the family very hurt,” said the victim’s daughter-in-law, Gabriela Mejia. “We ask for justice because what he did was inhumane.” Deputy District Attorney Andrea Tavenier told the court that the victim was unconscious when her grandson decapitated her. His lawyer, Nate Raff of the county Public Defender’s Office, read a statement on his behalf: “I’m so sorry for all the pain I caused you. What I did was unforgivable.” Nakahara sentenced him to 25 years to life for the murder, meaning he must serve 25 years before he can be considered for parole. For the battery on the deputy he received an additional term, to run consecutively. The Press Democrat reported that term as six years; Front Page Detectives, citing The Press Democrat, reported seven. “It’s hard for a victim’s family to get closure,” the judge said as he closed the hearing. Legal Status Luis Gustavo Aroyo-Lopez pleaded guilty to murder on June 4, 2024, and on June 27, 2024, was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison, with a consecutive term of six or seven years, as reported, for battery on a Sonoma County correctional deputy. No appeal has been reported. Why he killed his grandmother has never been discussed in open court. Frequently Asked Questions What happened in Santa Rosa? On November 2, 2023, police found a woman decapitated inside a house in Santa Rosa. Her head was not at the house. Who was the victim? Elvia Lopez-Arroyo, 64, of Santa Rosa. Police confirmed she was the suspect’s grandmother. Who was charged? Her grandson, Luis Gustavo Aroyo-Lopez, 23, who had left state prison on November 1, 2023, the day before the killing. How was he caught? On November 4, 2023, a San Francisco police officer on foot patrol at the Transbay Transit Center recognized him from the wanted bulletins and detained him without incident. Was the victim’s head found? Yes. Detectives found it at about 7:30 p.m. on November 4 on the south bank of Santa Rosa Creek beside the Prince Memorial Greenway. Did he plead guilty? Yes. He pleaded guilty to murder on June 4, 2024. What was his sentence? On June 27, 2024, Judge Vernon Nakahara sentenced him to 25 years to life for murder, plus a consecutive term, reported as six or seven years, for battering a jail deputy. What was the motive? It has never been discussed in open court. Police called the killing a targeted attack. Sources Santa Rosa Police Department, “WANTED: Assistance Needed in Locating a Homicide Suspect,” November 3, 2023 (City of Santa Rosa CivicReady alert): https://public.alertsense.com/content/2006/22301 Santa Rosa Police Department, “UPDATE: SRPD Homicide Investigation,” November 6, 2023: https://public.alertsense.com/content/2006/22368 CBS San Francisco (KPIX), “Santa Rosa man suspected of decapitating relative, fleeing with head arrested,” November 4, 2023: https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/man-suspected-of-beheading-relative-arrested-santa-rosa-police-say/ KRON4, “Santa Rosa homicide victim’s head found, grandson arrested,” November 6, 2023: https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/santa-rosa-homicide-victims-head-found-grandson-arrested/ Colin Atagi, The Press Democrat, “Santa Rosa man to serve 26 years to life in prison in grandmother’s beheading,” June 2024: https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/santa-rosa-court-crime-decapitation/ KSRO, “Life Sentence Given to Sonoma County Man Who Decapitated His Own Grandmother,” June 28, 2024: https://www.ksro.com/2024/06/28/life-sentence-given-to-sonoma-county-man-who-decapitated-his-own-grandmother/ Front Page Detectives, “Man Recently Released From Prison Decapitated Grandma: Cops”: https://www.frontpagedetectives.com/p/california-arrest-convict-suspected-decapitating-grandma