HEMET – A Hemet man was arrested Friday night under suspicion of murdering a man whose decomposed body was discovered last week.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department reported arresting 35-year old Hemet resident Craig Falconer for the murder of a man who is currently unidentified by the Riverside Coroner.
The body, which court records report is believed to be that of Hemet resident Wesley Styers, was discovered on Tuesday, July 21 in the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains. A Riverside County road worker, who was grading Bautista Canyon Road, discovered the body under a green sleeping bag and a black and white blanket. According to the Press Enterprise, a sheriff’s declaration stated that based on insect activity and the condition of the remains, Styers was believed to have been dead for several weeks. A gunshot wound to the forehead was deemed to be the cause of death.
Deputies had been searching for Styers for more than a week after a woman reported that Falconer, her ex-boyfriend, had revealed to her that he had shot the missing man and disposed of his body. Styers had not been seen by his family since July 4.
When deputies found a woman believed to be Craig Falconer’s current girlfriend, the story became more chilling. The woman admitted that she had seen the shooting in Falconer’s home and that her car had been used to dump the body. Investigators discovered blood in Falconer’s residence as well as in the trunk of the vehicle, although there had been obvious attempts to remove the evidence.
Falconer was arrested during a vehicle stop in the area of Stetson Avenue and Stanford Street in Hemet and was booked into Smith Correctional Facility on murder charges. He is being held on a $1,000,000 bail.
Read More: The Press Enterprise
