Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Heather Alaina Carroll, whose body turned up early Saturday at a home in the 2100 block of Cerra Vista Drive after her suspected killer surrendered following a long standoff.
Although we can hope and push and pray for justice, the bottom line is that a young boy has lost his mother. A husband has lost his wife. A loving family has lost one of their own. So the sober reality with the arrest of suspect David J. Quiroz, charged with homicide, is that it can only help ease any prospective pain in wondering whether the culprit will pay a dear price for her death.
It was an extraordinarily concerning case that became tragic early Saturday morning, when an overnight standoff ended and the suspect surrendered, after which he directed police to Carroll’s body and claimed that the two had been in an argument Wednesday, leading to her death.
From the legal end, it is far too early to presume anything about Quiroz’s story. The investigation must play out. Investigators must track down every possible angle and do their best toward bringing clarity to what occurred – particularly why, as police alleged, Quiroz decided to act out this heinous crime.
On the investigative end, it appears that the Hollister Police Department did everything it could under the circumstances and treated the disappearance with the appropriate level of urgency. When it became clear that Quiroz was more than someone to merely question, police took a cooperative approach and deemed it necessary to request as much outside help as possible, including the crucial deployment of Gilroy’s SWAT team that led efforts to enact a peaceful surrender from Quiroz.
From a community perspective, this is a time to continue offering support to those who lost Carroll. Telling by the groundswell of encouragement and assistance from residents leading up to her body’s discovery – such as citizen-sponsored search efforts in the days after her disappearance and a candlelight vigil held Saturday night – there is no doubt that people throughout this county will feel this painful loss. And there is no doubt that local people, some who likely don’t even know her family or friends, will continue offering up anything they can to help those who knew the victim.
