KELSEYVILLE – On Monday the Lake County Sheriff's Office issued a report on a Kelseyville homicide that occurred over the weekend.

The murder victim is 37-year-old Eric James Joaquin, as Lake County News has reported.

On Saturday sheriff's officials arrested John Robert Gray, 43, in whose home on Del Monte Way in the Clear Lake Riviera Joaquin had been living for several months.

Sheriff's Capt. James Bauman reported Monday that sheriff's deputies responded to Gray's Del Monte Way home on Saturday morning at about 9:40 a.m. on the report of an assault.

He said when they arrived deputies found several subjects outside of the home who told them that Joaquin, one of the home's residents, was inside and had possibly been shot.

Deputies entered the home and located Joaquin on the floor of a bedroom. Bauman said Joaquin was unconscious and appeared to have been severely beaten. Rescue personnel from the Kelseyville Fire District responded to the scene and confirmed Joaquin was dead.

One of the people outside of the home when deputies arrived, 19-year-old Cody Watts, also lived at the home. Bauman said Watts told deputies he had found Joaquin in the bedroom shortly after 9 a.m. when he returned home from spending the night at a friend’s house.

Joaquin was last seen alive by his girlfriend, 37-year-old Stacey Jones, at the Del Monte home at about 8 p.m. Friday, Bauman said.

Sheriff’s detectives were called out to investigate the apparent homicide and a search warrant was secured for the residence, according to Bauman.

After several hours of processing the scene and interviewing potential witnesses, detectives developed information that Gray, Joaquin’s roommate, may have been involved in his death, Bauman said.

The investigation revealed that Gray and Joaquin had reportedly gotten into an altercation on Thursday and it was considered unusual that Gray was not at home the morning Joaquin’s body was discovered, Bauman said.

At about 3 p.m. Saturday, Gray’s vehicle was located at his girlfriend’s home on Terrace Way, also in Kelseyville, and only a couple of miles away from the homicide scene. Bauman said that several people, including Gray, were detained at that home and a search warrant was secured for that residence.

Bauman said that while they were executing the search warrant at the Terrace Way home, detectives located items of Gray’s clothing connecting him with the homicide and he was arrested on suspicion of murder.

Gray was suspected of being under the influence of a controlled substance at the time of his arrest, Bauman added.

Bauman said that much has yet to be determined in the apparent homicide, including a motive, cause of death and weapon.

He said Joaquin sustained extensive trauma due to multiple blunt force injuries and reports by witnesses that he may have been shot remains speculative pending an autopsy.

Gray remains in the Lake County Jail, where he was booked on a charge of murder. Bail is set at $500,000 bail, and he's due in court for arraignment this week.

 

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