SANTA CRUZ — In Santa Cruz Superior Court, suspected murderer Patrick A. Collins made his first appearance early Monday before Judge Stephen Siegel.
Clad in a jail issue orange jumpsuit and shackled at the wrists and ankles, Collins, with his dramatic Mohawk haircut and wealth of tattoos, addressed Siegel’s questions politely and in a soft-spoken manner.
On the afternoon of Jan. 30, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call of a shooting in a residence at 3140 Trout Gulch Road in the foothills above Aptos Village. They found a woman dead from a shotgun blast to the head, a man (who deputies later identified as Collins) with a gunshot wound and another man with a severe stab wound. Collins faces a murder charge and a charge of using a firearm in the commission of a murder.
Siegel asked Collins, 36, if he had an attorney and if he could afford the initial fee of $50 to hire a public defender. Collins told the judge he typically made around $500 a month.
Assistant District Attorney Celia Rowland said outside of the court that Collins’ bail was bumped up from $750,000 to $1 million and that he could face life in prison.
“There was a recent intimate relationship between Mr. Collins and Ms. (Victoria May) Seidlinger,” Rowland said. “Mr. and Ms. Seidlinger were married but separated, but had a business together. Mr. Collins shot Ms. Seidlinger in the head and then went up to Mr. Seidlinger’s residence and informed him and then there was an altercation at Mr. Seidlinger’s residence.”
Assistant District Attorney Celia Rowland fields questions from the media outside of court Monday. She is the prosecutor in a case involving Patrick Collins who is charged with murder from an incident Jan. 30 in the foothills of Aptos. (Photo by Tarmo Hannula/Pajaronian)
Investigators combed the property for several days. Victoria May Seidlinger, 61, reportedly lived in one residence on the property and Steven Seidlinger lived separately in another home on the same property.
Steven Seidlinger suffered a serious stab wound in the incident, of which he is recovering.
“Ethically this is a strong case in the sense that I’m confident that I can prove the charges and allegations that were filed beyond a reasonable doubt,” Rowland said.
A further arraignment was scheduled for Wednesday at 9 a.m. in Dept. 6.
