Posted on 09/07/2001 10:25:49 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
OJAI, Calif. (AP) — The man suspected of murdering three members of a Simi Valley family apparently shot himself to death as law officers closed in Friday evening in Los Padres National Forest, a sheriff's deputy said.The body of Reynaldo Herrera Rodriguez was found about three hours after forest rangers saw him running from a parked sport utility vehicle, said Steve Mayorga, a Ventura County sheriff's deputy. Police recovered the body face down in an embankment with a wound to the head. A loaded 9mm pistol was discovered next to the body.
U.S. Forest Service rangers alerted sheriff's deputies Friday afternoon that a vehicle fitting the description of the Ford Explorer SUV had been parked in an overnight campground in the area, Mayorga said.
Simi Valley police and county sheriff's deputies had been looking since Wednesday for Rodriguez, 35, a state highway department civil engineer they say targeted the family of a young woman with whom he had once had a relationship.
The discovery of his body came after authorities revealed that Rodriguez had wrongly believed that the woman, Maria Rios, 24, had given him a blood disease.
Rios wasn't at home when a gunman walked into the family home and opened fire, killing her daughter, Shantal Rios, 4; brother Ricardo Calderon, 12, and grandmother, Esperanza Martinez, 80.
The gunman then fled in the rented vehicle. A car owned by Rodriguez was found early Friday in a church parking lot in his hometown of Thousand Oaks.
Police said they were not sure Rodriguez's mistaken belief about the disease motivated the shootings.
``That's one of the possible (motives),'' Gardner said
``The fact is, he does not have any diseases, nor does she. If he believes that, he's in error,'' Gardner said.
In an interview with KABC-TV Friday, Rios, holding a photo of her slain daughter, said Rodriguez ``was just a friend, he was never my boyfriend.''
The shooting also left two other family members wounded.
Rios' sister Lucia Vargas, 19, was in stable condition at Simi Valley Hospital with gunshot wounds. Brother Rigoberto Calderon, 16, was also hit by gunfire but wasn't seriously wounded.
Brother Rafael Calderon Jr., 18, escaped the gunfire but broke a wrist when he jumped out a second-story window and ran to a neighbor's house to call police.
After the shooting police learned that Rodriguez's home in Thousand Oaks had been set on fire about 20 minutes earlier. The fire was put out before major damage was done.
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