Police in California on Monday released additional details regarding the horrifying case of a man recently released from state prison who allegedly decapitated his grandmother in her Santa Rosa home last week and was arrested in San Francisco Saturday morning.
The bizarre and brutally violent case began on Thursday afternoon when Santa Rosa police were called to the 2500 block of Pomo Trail about a possible homicide. Arriving officers found a deceased adult female victim inside of the residence who had been decapitated, authorities said. The victim’s head was not located at the residence.
Police have now identified the victim as 64-year-old Elvia Lopez-Arroyo. When authorities first released information on the case, they confirmed that investigators identified the suspect as Santa Rosa resident Luis Gustavo Aroyo-Lopez, a blood relative of the victim who was on Postrelease Community Supervision (PRCS) after his recent release from state prison for assault with a deadly weapon and weapons possession. Police said that the suspect had killed the victim in a targeted attack before leaving the scene with the female victim’s head and was still at large.
In Monday’s update on the case, police also said that Aroyo-Lopez was 23 years old and not 24 as previously reported and that he was the victim’s grandson. Police also noted that multiple weapons were recovered from the residence, but “said items will need to undergo further examination before authorities can definitively identify the murder weapon(s).”
Police additionally confirmed that Aroyo-Lopez was taken into custody Saturday morning after an alert San Francisco patrol officer spotted Aroyo-Lopez in the area of the Transbay Transit Center at 425 Mission Street and recognized him from the wanted person bulletins. He immediately detained Aroyo-Lopez without incident. The suspect was detained in San Francisco until Santa Rosa police detectives were able to transport him to the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility.
Aroyo-Lopez has been booked on charges of murder and violating his PRCS. Aroyo-Lopez was not granted bail and remains in-custody.
After the suspect was arrested, Santa Rosa police continued their search for the victim’s decapitated head. At approximately 7:30 p.m. Saturday, the head was found on the south bank of the Santa Rosa Creek near the Prince Memorial Greenway. The head was brought to the Sonoma County Coroner’s Office for further examination.
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