Suspects Arrested For Bloody Vandalism Of Derek Chauvin Defense Witness' Former Santa Rosa Home
SANTA ROSA (CBS SF) -- Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the early morning vandalism of the former Santa Rosa home of Barry Brodd, who testified as a defense witness in the Derek Chauvin murder trial, that left the residence smeared with animal blood and had a severed pig's head dumped on the front porch.
Santa Rosa police said 20-year-old Rowan Dalbey, 34-year-old Kristen Aumoithe and 35-year-old Amber Lucas, all of Santa Rosa, were being held on felony vandalism and conspiracy charges.
"Three individuals, various ages, Santa Rosa residents were taken into custody in the last 24 hours on this case," Lt. Jeneane Kucker told KPIX 5 Wednesday.
Santa Rosa police said officers responded at 3:07 a.m. on April 17 to a residence in a west Santa Rosa neighborhood that had just been vandalized.
The victim called police after they were awakened by a group of suspects -- all dressed in black -- who threw a pig's head on their front porch and splattered blood on the front of their house and then fled.
The three also were charged with smearing blood and leaving a picture of a pig reading "Oink Oink" on a large hand statue in front of the Santa Rosa Plaza.
Ever since the incidents took place in the early hours of April 17th, detectives from the Santa Rosa Police Department Property Crimes Team have continued to follow up on investigative leads. This included attempting to locate additional witnesses and evidence.
The cost to clean up these vandalism attacks had previously been estimated to be in the thousands of dollars.
On May 11th at around 9:30 a.m., detectives served a search warrant in the 3900 block of Match Point Ave. During the service of the search warrant, detectives arrested Dalbey and Aumoithe.
At around 1 p.m., detectives arrested Lucas in the 200 block of 8th Street and subsequently served a search warrant at a residence in the area. Additional evidence was recovered during the search warrants.
The investigation is still ongoing, and there are still additional leads and information that detectives are following up on.
"We believe there are additional suspects that were involved and are asking for our community's help in identifying them," investigators said in a news release.
Investigators believe the vandals thought that Brodd -- a former Santa Rosa police officer -- still lived at the residence but he has not been a Santa Rosa resident for a number of years. He was a key defense witness in the Chauvin trial.
A jury found Chauvin -- a Minneapolis police officer -- guilty on all the murder counts he faced over the in-custody death of George Floyd.
"Completely misdirected, it was in connection with what we believe was Barry Brodd's testimony. He used to be a resident in Santa Rosa and used to live at that particular residence," Kucker said.
According to Santa Rosa Police, Brodd has not worked for the department since 2004 and no longer lives in California.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or has information that would assist with the investigation is encouraged to contact SRPD through our online Tip Line: www.srcity.org/CrimeTips.