Aaron Bassler, 35, of Fort Bragg, Calif., is seen here in a surveillance video early in September 2011 while he was allegedly burglarizing a vacation cabin in a remote part of Mendocino County, Calif. Bassler is believed to have burglarized several vacation homes, including one reported on Sunday, September 25, 2011. Bassler is wanted in connection with with the August 2011 murders of North Coast residents Matthew Coleman and Jere Melo. Photo courtesy Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.

MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. – The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office said it believes a man being sought for two August homicides was involved with a burglary reported on Sept. 25 near Willits.

For more than a month the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office and a force of allied agencies have sought 35-year-old Aaron James Bassler of Fort Bragg.

Bassler is wanted for the August murders of Fort Bragg Councilman Jere Melo and Mendocino Land Trust employee Matthew Coleman.

Earlier this week. Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said the search is taking place in a 400-square-mile area along the North Coast near Fort Bragg.

On Sunday, Sept. 25, Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to a discovered burglary of a vacation cabin located in the 16000 block of NorthSpur Road, approximately 14.2 miles east of Fort Bragg and approximately 10 miles northwest of Willits along the Noyo River watershed, according to a Wednesday report.

Upon arrival at the scene deputies discovered the person responsible for the burglary had forced entry into the cabin and appeared to have taken food items. Officials said investigators are still attempting to obtain an inventory of the cabin's items from the owner who was not present at the scene.

Deputies collected various items from inside the cabin that were believed to be touched by the person who had committed the burglary, according to the report. Those items were forwarded to the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Evidence Bureau for processing of latent prints, which resulted in the recovery of a latent print.

The recovered latent print was forwarded to the California Department of Justice laboratory in Sacramento for identification purposes.

On Wednesday afternoon a Department of Justice latent print criminalist contacted investigators and confirmed the recovered latent print was Bassler, the Mendocino Sheriff's Office said.

The NorthSpur Road area was the location of additional burglaries that Mendocino County Sheriff's detectives were sent to investigate on Sept. 20, the report said.

One full-time residence and at two vacation cabins located in the 17000 block of NorthSpur Road had allegedly been burglarized. The agency said detectives learned the structures were not occupied at the time of the burglaries, forced entry was used and food items had been taken.

It also was learned that a .22 caliber rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun had been taken during one of the burglaries. Detectives at this time believe Bassler to be responsible for those burglaries.

As a result of the preceding information the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office activated the reverse 911 system on Wednesday afternoon to warn the residents of NorthSpur of Bassler's presence.

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office said the effort to apprehend Bassler continues with support from several local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

The public is encouraged to be vigilant of their surroundings and to report any possible sighting of Bassler by calling the Command Post at 707-961-2479 or 911 under emergency situations.

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