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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – An Upper Lake man who was arrested along with another suspect for a November homicide has had the charges against him in the case dismissed.
District Attorney Susan Krones said that charges were dropped on Wednesday against 35-year-old Michael Sean Shaffer.
Shaffer has been in custody since Nov. 23 – along with Daniel Wayne Ford, 49, of Lakeport – for the homicide discovered earlier that day of Nicky Dale Smith, 70, of Lucerne.
Smith’s body was found on the side of the road in the 4550 block of Scotts Valley Road in Lakeport, as Lake County News has reported.
Court filings indicate investigators believe Smith was killed on Nov. 22.
Shaffer and Ford were identified as the two suspects in the case and arrested on the night of Nov. 23.
However, Krones said on Wednesday that as a result of the ongoing investigation and additional witness statements, she decided not to pursue charges against Shaffer.
“There were followup statements that basically indicated that he wasn’t there or that he wasn’t involved,” she said.
While the murder case against Shaffer has been dropped, Krones said he’s remaining in custody due to a post release community supervision hold that is the result of previous, unrelated offenses.
Shaffer will be back in court on Jan. 7 for the handling of those separate legal issues, Krones said.
It was on that date that Shaffer had been set to return to court for entry of plea in the Smith murder.
Still scheduled to be in court Jan. 7 for plea entry is Ford, who Krones said remains in custody for the homicide.
Ford is charged with murder, with special allegations that the murder was committed during an attempted robbery, an attempted kidnapping and a carjacking; attempted robbery; kidnapping; carjacking, with special allegations of discharging a firearm causing great bodily injury and death, and personally using and firing a handgun; assault with a firearm, with a special allegation of using a handgun; assault with a deadly weapon, a flashlight; assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury, with a special allegation of inflicting great bodily injury on a person who was 70 years old; and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Ford is being held in the Lake County Jail without bail.
Forensics a key part of the investigation
In addition to Ford remaining a suspect, Krones said there may be another person who was involved in Smith’s killing.
“We still have that other individual that we’re still trying to determine the extent of his participation,” she said.
Beyond that other individual, “At this point, we don’t have any other suspects,” Krones said.
Another development in the case is that Krones said investigators have located Smith’s pickup.
The dark green Toyota Tundra pickup had gone missing on the day of Smith’s killing.
Lt. Corey Paulich of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said the truck was found in a remote location in the Scotts Valley/Eickhoff Road area on Dec. 9 as a result of a search deputies conducted.
“There are materials from the pickup that are being tested,” Krones said.
Krones said the case involves a lot of forensic evidence that is going to tell authorities more about what happened.
However, she said it takes time to get various samples of blood and other material tested, and the sheriff’s office is in the process of getting that testing work completed.
“We have to be confident that we can prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt to proceed,” Krones said.
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