19-Year-Old Identified as Homicide Victim; Mendocino Sheriff Requests Public’s Help

On September 13, an unidentified young man was found dead near mile marker 24.98 in Covelo. According to a press release from the Mendocino Sheriff’s Office, the man “was clearly the victim of a homicide.” The press release, however, did not state what was the cause of his death. Today, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office released the identity of the victim and are requesting the public’s help.

Press release from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office:

Ramon Naranjo (Castaneda), 19 years of age, San Jose CA

Ramon Naranjo (Castaneda), 19 years of age, San Jose CA

On 9/19/2017 the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office confirmed, through finger print comparison, the victim in this case was 19 year old Ramon Naranjo (Castaneda), pictured below.  It is believed Ramon may have lived in or frequented the San Jose area before travelling to Covelo.

An autopsy was conducted on Friday (9/15/2017) which confirmed the manner of death as being a homicide.  However, the exact cause of death is not being released at this point in the investigation.

The Sheriff’s Office is requesting anyone who may have information about the movements or whereabouts of Ramon in the days and weeks before his death to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Communications Center at 707-463-4086 or the Sheriff’s Tip Line at 707-234-2100.

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43 Comments
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Me
Guest
Me
6 years ago

Getting as bad as Hoopa…

Make your world better
Guest
Make your world better
6 years ago

I hope this is relevant. This evening is the beginning of Rosh Hashanah. It is a Jewish celebration of the New Year. But that is not my relevancy. It is the Day of Awe. On this day you reflect on your past interactions with your neighbors, friends, family and loved ones. For those you have done wrongs you vow to contact them and ask for forgiveness. This small action could change our community. Rather than hide behind a cloak of avoidance you reach out and admit you have acted inappropriately and “person up” and ask for forgiveness. Smoothen out the ripples and re-establish a loving and positive relationship. It cost nothing but a little bit of time. Once you do it the first time the rest can be easy. And cleansing will make you feel so much better about yourself and your world becomes a better place to live. I am not Jewish, but I have acted on Rosh Hashanah two years ago and now I make amends on a monthly basis. Feel the love when someone comes to you and asks to be forgiven.

Diane Deaton
Guest
Diane Deaton
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Lovely thoughts. I hope this brings those reading this to action.

MackTheKnife
Guest
MackTheKnife
6 years ago

Yawwwwn….

I♡humboldt
Guest
I♡humboldt
6 years ago

How refreshing to see a pro-active comment, thank u!!
Our society is addicted to complaining and talking about our problems rather than focusing on what we each can do.
Kudos!!

Patty La Plante
Guest
Patty La Plante
6 years ago

I Love this post!

RBee
Guest
RBee
6 years ago

Nice thoughts- apply to those of us who “care”. I’m afraid those who committed this brutal homicide would ” fall over laughing” if this was suggested.

Hoopa resident
Guest
Hoopa resident
6 years ago

I believe covelo has been worse then Hoopa for years…..

Former Covelo Resident
Guest
Former Covelo Resident
6 years ago

@Hoopa Resident, you’re probably right.

Covelo Lives Strong
Guest
Covelo Lives Strong
6 years ago

I’m glad bad things are said about Covelo, so no more people move here. Just stay the hell away!

MOGTX
Guest
6 years ago

It’s all bad sad the man was so young .

C. Young
Guest
C. Young
6 years ago

The man clearly had a record since they did a fingerprint comparison. Not that he deserved to die just thought it was worth mentioning.

Ecl
Guest
Ecl
6 years ago
Reply to  C. Young

Many jobs also require fingerprints

Nasty nasty
Guest
Nasty nasty
6 years ago
Reply to  C. Young

I was in the army. My fingerprints are easily found. Doesn’t mean I’m a criminal

Fort Bragg Resident
Guest
Fort Bragg Resident
6 years ago
Reply to  C. Young

I have been fingerprinted for my job at a hospital and also for a mentoring program.

Quinn W
Guest
Quinn W
6 years ago
Reply to  C. Young

Could be DMV prints…….

Kristin
Guest
Kristin
6 years ago
Reply to  C. Young

All workers in the education field have to be fingerprinted, too.

Former resident of Covelo
Guest
Former resident of Covelo
6 years ago

When you go into DMV to get a I’D or DL you have to scan your thumb.. A person’s finger prints are all over the place.

shawn the fisherman
Guest
shawn the fisherman
6 years ago

Terrible! Poor young man lost his life, Dumped along the road. Hope the family finds peace in the lord. The afterlife is real, I promise you… May the perp find justice in this life and the next. Poor parents, you have my sympathy.

Freedom Club
Guest
Freedom Club
6 years ago

Gotta love promises that can never be backed up or proven,,, Is it not comforting enough for you people that your body will decompose and the matter will just become part of other life forms on this planet?

shawn the fisherman
Guest
shawn the fisherman
6 years ago
Reply to  Freedom Club

You poor soul. You are in for a rude awaking when you pass. you cannot quantify, So you call fake news. Trust, There will be a reckoning. Have a little faith in a higher power and you too can turn your life around.

Allie from Hoopa
Guest
Allie from Hoopa
6 years ago

I’m from Hoopa and have visited Covelo a couple of times this past month for the Blackberry Festival and Labor Day Rodeos. I love the place! We were housed by a generous family and others helped us repair our truck without accepting our monetary gesture of thanks. Everybody we met there was friendly and helpful. They have an awesome park, two rodeo grounds, a couple of parts stores, a decent grocery store and a nice looking High School. You can even grab a burger and shop at the thrift store across the street (we don’t have luxuries like that in Hoopa). It’s a beautiful valley with lots of great folks. Bad stuff happens in good places all of the time. Covelo, like Hoopa, is geographically isolated making it difficult for understaffed news organizations to easily cover the good stuff and great people. I’m convinced crisis oriented articles/press releases have helped skew the overall perception of our communities. It’s not entirely the media’s fault. I know how it is to run an understaffed news organization. We do the best we can with the resources we have. As for Hoopa and Covelo “getting worse”, that’s probably true. Everywhere is “getting worse.” Please remember there are good things and great people in these small towns, but they don’t often make the headlines. My condolences to this young man’s family.

Susan Reece
Guest
Susan Reece
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Murder in Indian Country is what should be written about Missing and murdered women Body dumping where an equally racist police Dept is the investigator How bad does it have to get?

I♡humboldt
Guest
I♡humboldt
6 years ago

Thank you, very well put!!
Agreed, theres bad and good everywhere, thats life!
Sensationalism sells all over and unfortunately is what often draws people in so as a new outlet its gotta be tuff to find that balance..
We need a kym in every locale!

Ecl
Guest
Ecl
6 years ago

Thank you Allie, well said. Sending much love to this young man’s loved ones so sad to see things like this happen.

Karen
Guest
6 years ago

You said it all!!! Thank you for your reply and statement. Its bad Every where But it seems like white people always must talk about reservations and voice their opinions which are usually wrong. Instead. Why don’t you realize that most likely he was killed due to. A. Pot sale gone wrong . has nothing to do with round valley. And yes I’m from there

Chumphumper
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Karen

Racist much!?? White people !?? Really? If I said black people usually steal things and talk about rims. That would be racist …BAD KAREN DONT BRING RACE INTO EVERYTHING…We all human

Perspective
Guest
Perspective
6 years ago
Reply to  Chumphumper

Keep humping the chump because your comment is way off base. Not a racist comment at all.

Tammy aubrey
Guest
Tammy aubrey
6 years ago

Yes I was born n raised in happy camp ca.I don’t live there now but I’m gonna live there one these days be buried right by my mother mona aubrey in happy camp n I believe everywhere in this whole universe is getting worse i have no clue why things happen but at the end of my life I will know until then I’m praying everyone just at least try to be happy if can’t do u own self in..

G-MAS
Guest
G-MAS
6 years ago

Sad for this young man’s family.R.I.P.

Ricky
Guest
Ricky
6 years ago

Damnit people it has nothing to do with covelo or any other town. The fact is, he was murdered. It has to deal with the people he was around. Obviously his body was dumped. Therefore he was murdered somewhere else then driven out to this place and dumped. More than likely it was people he knew and trusted. Prayers for the family.

Covelo History
Guest
Covelo History
6 years ago

Nothing can be worse than the way Covelo was between 1850’s and the 1900’s, educate yourself of the History of Round Valley and you will find one of the Bloodiest Histories in North America, Round Valley Reservation, aka “Nome Cult Farm” has a History of Genocide and Starvation and was the epicenter of Concentration Camps in California. Read the Minority and Majority reports from 1860’s Round Valley, people were forcibly removed and herded like cattle from all over Northern California by the cracks of the whip. An estimated 8,000 + indigenous people were cruelly murdered, or worked to death and starved at the hands of Indian Superintendents. Those that were not removed to Round Valley were considered “wild indians” and shot on site if found off the reservation. Read; Genocide and Vendetta, When the Great Spirit Died, Mendocino War Minority and Majority Reports from Official Inquiry 1860. There were an estimates 3,000-6,000 Yuki originally living in Round Valley when Asbill and Kelseyville first “found Round Valley”, what would ensue is as bad as Nazi Germany and THE Holocaust. Nothing Happening today even comes near the History of Genocide and Murder by Mendocino County residents and pioneers who would later turn into politicians and prominent citizens in the local Masonic and Odd Fellows “secret societies” of Mendocino County. RIP THIS young man sending love out to his parents and loved ones and hoping the sheriff will call some detectives off the pot war and focus on solving these endless murders and missing persons cases. There are real crimes unfolding everyday while the sheriff and his deputies focus only on Cannabis and Asset Forfeiture.

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  Covelo History

Without knowing why he was murdered, it is impossible to know whether or not a pot grow was the reason he was killed. I suspect that was why he was here as it is so very common.

There are pot related crimes all the time. Someone steals pot and someone gets shot. Someone tries to stiff the workers at a pot farm and someone gets shot. People disappear in grow areas.

So maybe it is not that too much of the Sheriff’s attention is wasted on pot grows. Maybe it’s that too little is spent.

And this doesn’t even take into account the violence around other pot related activities such as the story about murder charges in a hash lab explosion.

Refusing acknowledging the violence surrounding pot is one of the reasons the industry is so hated by those outside it. If a problem is ignored, it can not be fixed. All this rhapsodizing about the ‘good old days’ of pot farming can only be done if the violence that existed then as it does now is denied. There is more violence today only because there are more pot grows. Not that violence has suddenly sprung up where there was none previously.

Wait a Minute
Guest
Wait a Minute
6 years ago

Californians are tired of Sheriffs and Police resources being used to fight marijuana rather than solve crimes and solve murders, homicides, burglaries and homeinvasions…. But Wait a minute, that is all true, the prohibition of pot resulting in the large inflated by prohibition prices on the black market has led to the artificial inflation and the subsequent violence caused by the prohibition. That is why California Voters have overwhelmingly voted to legalize cannabis. People are tired of the inflated costs caused by the black market as well as the huge waste of resources…. hundreds of Millions in California alone spent on fighting and eradicating an innocent plant which has been used without violence for over 10,000 years! California also rejected the murders and destruction that the prohibition and black market have brought with it! As soon as the black market price drops from the effects of legalization we will see these crimes go away, they were created by law enforcement and the subsequent high prices prohibition has caused.

Anna S.
Guest
Anna S.
6 years ago

Wow, it must be frustrating to ask the public for help with a very serious matter and then have to use your valuable time to read through a hen party only to find none of the posts are actually helpful.

Tooter Turtle
Guest
Tooter Turtle
6 years ago
Reply to  Anna S.

LOL! to the pIC

Blacktail Addict
Guest
Blacktail Addict
6 years ago

Sad,

Wow
Guest
Wow
6 years ago

Since they used a driver’s license photo I will assume he had no jail pictures to share. That is just an assumption though. Regardless of why he was killed it is very sad that he was killed and dumped. I hope they get this figured out. Someone has to know who he was around in Covelo. Small communities usually know everything about everyone.

Sheriff Only Cares about Money
Guest
Sheriff Only Cares about Money
6 years ago
Reply to  Wow

I doubt they will focus their energy to figure this out, the Sheriff Department is too busy fighting the antiquated already lost war on Cannabis. All extra man power and most resources are used to eradicate cannabis and steal cannabis growers $$ through asset forfeiture. Mendocino County makes millions every year by eradicating cannabis, this is their real intent and real focus. They could care less about a kid getting murdered, they are after the $$$ and the weed. They rarely solve any burglaries, robberies, car thefts, murders or homicides. The only goal is asset forfeiture, everything else costs money but raiding pot farms makes money. And the Sheriff Department loves money!

Focus on the Real Crime Allman
Guest
Focus on the Real Crime Allman
6 years ago

Time for Mendo Sheriff Tom Allman to direct his resources away from fighting a lost cannabis war,and time for Tom Allman to focus his energy, man power, money and resources on solving the 20+ missing persons cases, murders, home invasions and homicides. Sheriff Tom is doing the community a real disservice by continuing his stubborn war on pot while house’s are being burglarized, home invasions continue, car theft has became common and murders, homicides and missing persons cases are on the rise…. Time for Mendocino County Board of Supervisors to reign in the Sheriff and remind him that the Sheriff works for the People and the people demand that the resources of our Sheriff Department are spent wisely on fighting and solving real crimes, not just working to get $$$ from pot growers and asset forfeiture for new toys for his department. The People of Northern Mendocino County are fed up!

burblestein
Guest
6 years ago

You must have missed the squib in the Anderson Valley Advertiser. It said Sheriff Allman is trying to hire an experienced retired homicide detective to reinvestigate cold cases.