On November 2, officers found Elvia Lopez-Arroyo, a 64-year-old victim, decapitated at a residence located on the 2500 block of Pomo Trail. The primary suspect of the crime was identified as Luis Gustavo Aroyo-Lopez, a blood relative of the victim, as reported by the Santa Rosa Police Department.
Santa Rosa Police Department's Violent Crimes Investigations (VCI) team captured Aroyo-Lopez, a 23-year-old resident of Santa Rosa, in San Francisco on November 4. After the crime, law enforcement agencies in California and the U.S. Marshals Service mobilized, aiming to arrest Aroyo-Lopez quickly.
Hoodline reports that a $2,500 reward had been offered by authorities for reliable information leading to Aroyo-Lopez's apprehension. Before this case, Aroyo-Lopez had been released from prison and was under Postrelease Community Supervision (PRCS); he had served time for assault with a deadly weapon and weapons possession charges unrelated to the current case.
An alert San Francisco Police Department patrol officer swiftly recognized Aroyo-Lopez from recent wanted person bulletins, enabling him to detain Aroyo-Lopez without incident. Afterwards, Aroyo-Lopez was transferred to the SRPD VCI detectives' custody, and booked into the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility, where he is being held without bail on charges of murder and violation of PRCS.
After Aroyo-Lopez's arrest, investigators focused on locating the missing decapitated head, which was removed from the crime scene, leading to public safety concerns. The investigators' meticulous search yielded results on Saturday evening when they located the head on the south bank of the Santa Rosa Creek near the Prince Memorial Greenway, east of A Street, Santa Rosa. The Sonoma County Coroner's Office then received the head for further examination. The victim was later confirmed to be Elvia Lopez-Arroyo, Aroyo-Lopez's own grandmother.
