(KRON) – A missing person’s case quickly moved to a homicide investigation after the victim’s family suspected foul play, the San Jose Police Department said Friday.
Authorities opened the investigation on June 22 after responding to a report of a missing homeless man near Coyote Creek in the Wall Creek Drive area. Family and friends told officers that the missing man was last seen three days ago, and that they suspected foul play in his disappearance “because his bicycle was found abandoned near a creek path, a short distance from bloodstains and spent bullet casings.”
On June 25, the Santa Clara County Crime Lab confirmed that blood found at the scene matched that of the missing man. As suspicions of foul play grew, homicide investigators once again combed the creek area and interviewed witnesses.
Police learned of two vehicles near where the missing man was last seen alive, according to SJPD. The investigation then led to the naming of three San Jose residents, Juan Flores Gonzalez, 44, Miguel Cortez, 41, and Julio Espinosa Chavez, 43, as prime suspects in the man’s disappearance.
“Investigators later determined, based on circumstantial evidence, that the missing person had been murdered and possibly buried in the Saratoga Hills area, near Interstate 9,” San Jose police said.
On Tuesday, the three men were arrested and booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail on suspicion of murder.
SJPD said cadaver dogs from Santa Clara County Search and Rescue on Thursday found the remains of a man buried in the Saratoga Hills area near Interstate 9. The identity of those remains is awaiting confirmation from the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The missing person case turned homicide investigation was “as complex as it was compelling,” San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph said in a statement Friday. “Our investigators handled the matter with care, compassion and relentless determination.”