The mother of a 3-year-old girl from California who had been missing was found dead on Sunday near a climbing trail in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
A tourist saw Lizbeth Arceo Sedano’s body near Eureka Canyon Road and Grizzly Flat Road, in a place called Rattlesnake Gulch that is close to the town of Corralitos. She was 25 years old. Just outside of the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, these two roads meet.
“The hiker then told us about that around 9:40 a.m.,” said Ashley Keehn, a spokeswoman for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office.
In a Facebook post, the sheriff’s office said that officers went to the scene, found the body, and confirmed that it belonged to the young mother who had been reported missing the day before.
In a news statement, the police said that Sedano’s partner, Joshua Gonzalez, called them and threatened to hurt Sedano’s daughter with a knife while he was outside the Watsonville Police Department. This is why a missing persons report was made.
An officer from the Watsonville Police Department, Michelle Pulido, told SFGATE over the phone that Gonzalez called the girl his granddaughter on the 911 call.
Gonzalez made a threat call, and the first cop who came to the scene told Gonzalez to put down his knife. Gonzalez said no and charged at the police officer, who fired a gun at Gonzalez. Gonzalez was hurt in the shooting and was taken to a trauma center, where his state is said to be stable.
When cops put out the report that Sedano was missing, they said in an Instagram post that they were worried about her safety.
The police in Santa Cruz County said on Facebook that the mother’s death is “being investigated as suspicious.” “Our forensic pathologist will figure out what happened and how it happened, and detectives will keep looking into this case.”