Crime & Safety
Pair Arrested In TX For Sonoma County Homicides: Sheriff's Office
Sonoma County sheriff's detectives worked with the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and other law enforcement agencies to track down the suspects.
SONOMA COUNTY, CA — A man and woman suspected of gunning down two Sonoma County residents during a 2016 marijuana heist were arrested last week in Austin, Texas, authorities said Monday. Robert Lee Randolph Jr., 30 and Maria Teresa Lebron, both from the Philadelphia area, were taken into custody without incident at an Austin apartment on Friday afternoon, according to Sonoma County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Spencer Crum.
The pair are suspected in the Oct. 15, 2016 shooting deaths of 36-year-old Nathan Proto of Sebastopol and 28-year-old John Mariana of Guerneville. A 23-year-old unidentified woman was also shot in the head but survived.
Investigators believe the shootings happened during a marijuana robbery at a home off Hwy 116, south of Sebastopol in unincorporated Sonoma County.
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The suspects fled before authorities arrived and were back on the east coast before investigators determined who they were. Sheriff's detectives traveled to the east coast to find them, but the pair eluded arrest, Crum said.
Sheriff's detectives worked with the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and various law enforcement agencies to track the suspects down. On Friday, around 1:30 p.m., the FBI and local police followed leads that led to the Austin apartment, where a SWAT team served an arrest warrant.
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Drugs and at least one weapon were seized at the apartment and Lebron and Randolph were booked into a jail in Austin, Crum said.
Detectives from the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office traveled to Austin over the weekend to interview the suspects. They will remain there pending extradition to Sonoma County, where they will face criminal charges in the 2016 deaths and robbery, Crum said.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
- Manhunt On For Pair Wanted In Triple Shooting That Killed 2 Near Sebastopol
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- Triple Shooting Along Hwy 116 Was Marijuana-Related, Sheriff's Office Confirms
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By Bay City News Service
Photos courtesy Sonoma County Sheriff's Office
