Crime, Fire & Courts

An 86-year-old Fresno man was convicted on Aug. 26 for a double-murder committed more than three decades ago in Prunedale. According  to Monterey County Sheriff spokesman Andres Rosas, Ira Ulyesses Bastian murdered George Smith, 67, and Eva Thompson, 79 in a Prunedale restaurant on Nov....

A man suffered at least one stab wound Thursday afternoon in Capitola. Capitola Police, aided by Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies and the California Highway Patrol rushed to the 1800 block of 44th Avenue where they located the victim suffering from a stab wound to...

Tow operator Kevin Chavez works on righting a VW sedan after it rolled off of Buena Vista Drive early Thursday morning. The California Highway Patrol said a male driver lost control of the VW Jetta around 6:30am while traveling westbound on the 600 block...

A crew from Cal Fire knocks down a fire that fully engulfed a travel trailer Tuesday in Watsonville. No injuries were reported in the 2:40pm incident in a field behind Orchard Park Market at the corner of East Lake Avenue and Holohan Road. An...

Skeletal remains found in 1995 off of Highway 129 near Aromas have been identified as 13-year-old Laura O’Malley from Queens, New York, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday. On March 22, 1995, partial skeletal remains were discovered in a riverbed off Highway 129...

Watsonville Police on Tuesday arrested a registered sex offender after he allegedly followed and inappropriately touched a 17-year-old girl. Kenneth Wilder, 31, has been charged with assault with intent to commit rape, stalking, annoying or molesting a minor and sexual battery.  As a registered sex offender,...

A Prunedale man was arrested Nov. 26 on suspicion of a lengthy list of agriculture-related crimes including theft of a tractor. On Oct. 22, deputies from the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office responded to the 300-block of Espinoza Road in Salinas following a report of an...