Petaluma woman arrested as murder-for-hire case unravels

Investigation stems from fiery Kenwood standoff last spring|

Investigators never stopped chasing down leads after a standoff in Sonoma Valley last spring resulted in the fiery death of a confessed killer from Napa. Last week, those leads resulted in another arrest in a convoluted murder-for-hire case spanning two counties.

Angela Martinez Arias, 41, of Petaluma, was arrested Jan. 14 for her alleged role in the death of Reynaldo Pacheco, 44, of Santa Rosa, after a business deal between the two went bad. Authorities believe Arias was owed money by Pacheco, and that when he didn’t pay, she arranged to have him killed.

The investigation began with a violent incident in Kenwood on April 1, after 32-year-old Miguel Angel Garcia, fleeing a felony warrant out of Napa, was tracked to a fifth-wheel trailer on a property in Kenwood where he and his girlfriend were staying the night.

Finding himself surrounded by SWAT personnel, the armed felon refused to give himself up and remained barricaded in the trailer for nearly 24 hours, confessing to multiple crimes over the phone before ending his own life amid a shootout with police. No one else was hurt.

A probe later determined that although several rounds were fired by police, Garcia died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest, which he delivered before stumbling out of the trailer and falling forward. The trailer he was in - filled with tear gas and riddled with bullet holes - caught fire and burned to the ground.

Soon after, the information provided by Garcia during his last few hours led investigators to a body “in a creek bed out in a rural area east of Lake Hennessey off of (Highway) 128,” said Capt. Douglas Pike of the Napa County Sheriff’s Office. The body was later identified as that of Pacheco, missing since March 24.

Authorities believe Pacheco was bludgeoned to death with rocks wielded by Garcia, and that the killer had two accomplices: Mauricio Tovar-Telles, 24, and Norberto Guerrero Gonzalez, 29. All three male suspects are Napa men.

In the course of their investigation, authorities began to consider Arias a person of interest and interviewed her several times, Pike said. He noted that she is the only known connection between the suspects and the victim.

“Once we had identified Mr. Pacheco and learned that had been reported missing ... we first learned of Arias’ name, and found out that she had actually seen him or had been with him on the morning when he disappeared,” Pike said.

Authorities believe that on March 24, Arias lured Pacheco to his death by arranging a meeting at her Rohnert Park business, Botanica Ile Oshun Elegua, which apparently sells religious artifacts. From there, the two took Pacheco’s Range Rover to an isolated spot off of Stage Gulch Road, where they were joined by Garcia and Tovar-Telles.

At that point, Pike said, they went to Sonoma and dropped off Arias, then continued on to Napa where they picked up Gonzalez, before driving up Napa Valley to the site of Pacheco’s death.

His body was found propped up in the creek bed, hands bound with his own shoelaces, according to reports.

At the time of Garcia’s standoff and death eight days later, Tovar-Telles and Gonzalez were already in custody on unrelated charges. They remain in custody at the Napa County Jail on suspicion of kidnapping, carjacking and murder, among other charges, and are being held in lieu of $2 million bail each. (Both Tovar-Telles and Garcia are implicated in an unrelated kidnapping case as well.)

Now Arias has joined them at Napa County Jail. According to the Napa County Sheriff’s Office, Arias was arrested Wednesday morning at her Rohnert Park business at 109 Southwest Boulevard. She is described as 5-foot-4 and 180 pounds, with her occupation listed as “cook and small business owner.” Records indicate she lives on Huntington Way in Petaluma.

Currently, the charges pending against her include kidnapping and carjacking, both felonies.

The case is being handled out of Napa County because, as Pike noted, it all begins with the warrant for Garcia’s arrest.

“The City of Napa specifically had had an incident where they had arrested the Tovar-Telles guy for shooting into a vehicle,” Pike said. “And then following up on that case, received info that Tovar had obtained the firearm from Garcia.”

That led to the arrest warrant for Garcia, who fled the area - and was tracked down soon after at that trailer in Sonoma Valley.

(Contact Don Frances at argus@arguscourier.com)

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