YUCAIPA – A man suspected in a 2014 murder was arrested on Thursday, February 4, when a year-long investigation led to enough evidence to take action.
Steven Phillip Zoll, 48, of Yucaipa, was arrested for the killing of John Stacey Stacey Mohr. Authorities said Mohr was beaten to death by Zoll for undisclosed reasons.
Mohr was found badly beaten on Sunday, November 9, 2014 at his residence at the Melody Land Mobile Home Park in the 12600 block of California Street. An ambulance transported him to Redlands Community Hospital where he was unconscious and unresponsive.
A little over one day later, November 10, Mohr died in the hospital. Circumstances surrounding his death, said Deputy Roger Loftis, were suspicious, leading to the Sheriff’s Specialized Investigations Homicide Unit to take over the investigation.
Over the next year, detectives interviewed numerous people that were associated with both Mohr and Zoll.
Detectives eventually learned that Zoll had assaulted Mohr “several times over a period of several weeks prior to Mohr’s death,” according to Loftis.
On February 2, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office charged Zoll with murder, a warrant issued for his arrest after the Coroner Division ruled Mohr’s death a homicide.
Two days later, Loftis learned that Zoll was possibly in the Calimesa area, a neighboring community in Riverside County. With assistance from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office, Zoll was taken into custody on Calimesa Boulevard., near Avenue L, and booked at Central Detention Center in San Bernardino.
Zoll is scheduled to appear in court this week on unrelated charges that include grand theft. On February 17, he will appear in San Bernardino Superior Court on murder charges. Bail has been set at $1 million.
