Authorities allege that an unspecified
”
labor dispute
”
prompted a Hollister man, along with his father and step-mother
as accomplices, to murder a 42-year-old field worker who was a
cousin of the suspected killer in Southern California before
dumping the body in a desert irrigation ditch outside of El Centro
near the Mexican border, according to sheriff’s officials from San
Benito and Imperial counties.
HOLLISTER
Authorities allege that an unspecified “labor dispute” prompted a Hollister man, along with his father and step-mother as accomplices, to murder a 42-year-old farm worker who was a cousin of the suspected killer in Southern California before dumping the body in a desert irrigation ditch outside of El Centro near the Mexican border, according to sheriff’s officials from San Benito and Imperial counties.
Imperial County Sheriff’s Office investigators worked with the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office to arrest Guillermo Regalado Jr., 35, on Thursday in Hollister at a Union Road residence.
Imperial County deputies Saturday also arrested his father and step-mother just outside of El Centro, the county seat, as authorities believe they were accomplices to the shooting and had been preparing to flee south, said Sgt. Miguel Leon, who heads the Imperial County investigations unit. Investigators had tracked the married couple to Dodge City, Kan., and back to Southern California where they arrested them.
Both the San Benito County and Dodge City agencies, along with the U.S. Marshal’s Service, assisted in the investigation and cooperated by providing investigators and other resources, Leon said.
“They were great,” Leon said of the local sheriff’s office. “They opened up their doors. They gave a couple of investigators full time to assist, and we were able to obtain arrest and search warrants.”
Authorities allege Regalado Jr. on Jan. 5 next to a farm field – accompanied by Guillermo Regalado Sr., 55, and the father’s wife Cecilia Amparan-Regalado, 21 – shot Javier Garcia Martinez with a high-powered rifle twice, in the head and upper body, according to a statement from the Imperial County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators believe he died at the scene and that the Regalados dumped his body west of the shooting site in the desert, in an irrigation ditch.
Leon noted the “labor dispute” as a possible motive but declined to elaborate.
“We don’t know how accurate that is,” he said.
Witnesses to the shooting initially did not report the crime and told authorities they had been threatened by the suspects at the time, Leon said. A witness, however, came forward Jan. 11, six days later, after being confronted by the victim’s family as they were seeking Martinez as a missing person, according to authorities. Investigators found the body Jan. 13 and arrested the alleged shooter in Hollister two days later.
Investigators had discovered Regalado Jr. lived in Hollister and that he ran a business called Bon Leaf, which is listed at 8100 Frazier Lake Road. An answering message for the business’ listed number, under Regalado’s name, mentions specialty and organic foods but it is unclear precisely what type of operation he oversaw.
Deputies set up surveillance on Union Road in the early morning Thursday and waited for him to leave the building before arresting him at about 11 a.m. without incident, said Lt. Roy Iler of the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities booked him into the San Benito County Jail and, Iler said, Imperial County investigators transported him back to Southern California. They did not find the murder weapon at the residence but did recover a 12-gauge shotgun, Iler said.
Regalado Jr. and his father are both facing recommended charges of murder and criminal threats, while the alleged shooter’s step-mother is facing a recommended charge of being an accessory to murder, according to the statement.
