Crime & Safety
Update: Man Found Dead in Trunk of Car Assaulted Ex-Girlfriend Friday Night
Victim's name has not been released pending an investigation.
Bay City News Service
The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office has identified a 31-year-old man found dead in the trunk of a parked car at Sonoma State University on Monday as Sean Francis Parker.
Parker, who investigators say was murdered, had addresses in Santa Rosa and Vallejo, sheriff's officials said.
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An autopsy was underway this afternoon. Lt. Dennis O'Leary said Parker was a suspect in a domestic violence incident that occurred Friday around 9 p.m. on Stony Point Road in Santa Rosa.
Parker and the female victim had a prior dating relationship and had children together, O'Leary said.
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The female victim suffered several cuts and bruises Friday during a heated argument with Parker, O'Leary said.
Parker left after the domestic violence incident and Santa Rosa police issued a "be on the lookout" alert for Parker and a gold sedan, O'Leary said.
Sheriff's deputies found the sedan parked in a no parking zone on Petaluma Hill Road north of East Cotati Avenue around 6:30 p.m. Monday, O'Leary said.
Deputies checked the license plate and learned that the vehicle was linked to the Santa Rosa domestic disturbance, O'Leary said. It is believed the car had been there since late Saturday afternoon or evening, he said.
Deputies saw blood on one of the car's seats, then found Parker's body wrapped in a blanket inside the unlocked trunk.
While the domestic violence victim had access to the gold sedan containing Parker's body, she is not a suspect in the murder, O'Leary said.
Parker has a criminal history in Sonoma County, and some of the people he is associated with are involved in gangs, O'Leary said.
Neither Parker nor the female domestic disturbance victim attended Sonoma State University, O'Leary said.
Previously:
A body was found in the trunk of a suspicious vehicle parked near Sonoma State University this evening, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.
The vehicle was found at 6:29 p.m. in a no parking zone on Petaluma Hill Road north of East Cotati Avenue.
Investigators determined that the vehicle was associated with a suspect wanted for questioning in a crime reported Friday in the Santa Rosa area. The sheriff's office did not immediately reveal what crime.
Deputies noticed possible evidence inside the vehicle, and then noticed that the trunk was unlocked. When they opened a trunk, they discovered a body wrapped in a blanket.
The sheriff's office is treating the death as suspicious, but did not say how the person might have died. The victim's name has not been determined, according to the sheriff's office.
Anyone with information about the case has been asked to call the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office at (707) 565-2185.
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