SAN FRANCISCO — A woman was arrested in connection with the shooting death of a high-school student who was found dead at a park earlier this year, San Francisco police said Wednesday.
42-year-old Silvia Lorena Montoya of San Francisco was arrested for the murder of Jonathan Sauceda Caballero, an 18-year-old Balboa High School Student.
On May 31, at roughly 6:45 a.m., police responded to reports of gunshots and a wounded man at McLaren Park, which is located between the Excelsior District and Visitacion Valley in the southeast side of the city.
Officers found Caballero unconscious and bleeding from a gunshot wound, and lying on a walking trail just off John F. Shelley Drive. Despite attempts by paramedics to revive Caballero, the young man was pronounced dead at the scene.
After a two month investigation, police developed probable cause to arrest Montoya. They did not specify a connection between Montoya and Caballero, nor did they offer a possible motive. But this arrest was not the first time Montoya was booked in recent days.
Victim Jonathan Caballero – image from Facebook
Records show that Silvia Montoya, along with Franklin Mendoza, an 18-year-old transient out of Oakland, and Jose Benitez, a 19-year-old San Francisco resident, were arrested on Tuesday, June 23. The three were picked up by officers from the Taraval Station in a residential neighborhood at Brighton and Grafton Streets, near the City College of San Francisco. They were arrested just after 5 pm, and charged with second degree burglary and criminal conspiracy.
They were booked that day, just over three weeks after Caballero’s death, and just over a month prior to Montoya’s arrest for his murder. It is not known if there was any connection, or if her booking helped identify her as the suspect in Caballero’s death, but it is clear that Montoya spent a lot of time with teenage young men.
Prosecutors later stated that they believe the victim and suspect were involved in a dating relationship. They have also charged her with three added counts of dissuading witnesses from testifying or providing information to the police.
Montoya is now being held at the San Francisco county jail on $10 million bail, and appeared in court on Friday, August 7 to enter a plea of not guilty to the murder of Jonathan Caballero.
CrimeVoice staff contributed to this report
