source Santa Cruz Sentinel, California.
SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA – A Watsonville man who was shot after allegedly attacking a police officer was booked into the Santa Cruz County Jail this week on suspicion of murdering his stepdaughter’s mother.
Joshua Gonzalez, registered as Joshua Gonzalez-Martinez, received medical attention after a Watsonville Police Department officer shot him just before 9:30 p.m. Saturday night (July 6). Department officials said Gonzalez, 25, showed up at the Church Street station with a 3-year-old child, who police later identified as his stepdaughter, called the department and threatened the toddler with a knife. Police said Gonzalez then charged at an arriving officer after being asked twice to put down his knife, at which point the officer shot him. Police Chief Jorge Zamora said he believes the child was in a nearby vehicle at the time of the shooting.
Sunday morning, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office was called to a report of a dead woman found on a hiking trail south of Corralitos. The woman, later identified as 25-year-old Lizbeth Arceo Sedano of Watsonville, was the mother of the three-year-old child. According to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s and Coroner’s Office, Arceo died from multiple stab wounds.
Gonzalez was arrested Thursday on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, child abuse with possible great bodily harm or death and resisting arrest in connection with the Watsonville confrontation, as well as murder in connection with Arceo’s death, which is being investigated separately by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. Jail records also showed several charges of violating San Benito County local ordinances. Gonzalez remained jailed without bail Friday pending his arraignment in Santa Cruz County Superior Court next week, though the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office had not filed charges as of Friday afternoon.
Arceo’s death is the fourth homicide in Santa Cruz County this year and the first to be investigated by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. On Feb. 23, UC Santa Cruz student Zainab Mansoor was strangled to death at Seabright State Beach, a crime for which 21-year-old Samuel Branigan Stone has been charged. A judge held Stone for questioning, but a trial has not yet been scheduled. On April 19, 44-year-old Todd Kolibas was stabbed to death at a picnic area in DeLaveaga Park, a crime for which 31-year-old Joseph Young has been charged. A judge held Young for questioning, and a jury trial is set for Sept. 23. On July 28, “Baby Z,” an 18-month-old girl, died of suspected drug intoxication after apparent exposure at a River Street apartment, for which her mother, 38-year-old Korisa Woll, has been charged. Woll is scheduled to appear in court on August 29.
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