Photo: Rodolfo Garcia
Shortly after midnight on February 5th, 2018, in the arid city of Menifee, California, a man was shot dead.
Silvano Gutierrez Esteves, aged 43, was killed in his Monroe Avenue home during a botched home-invasion robbery. It is believed that Esteves was targeted due to being in possession of a large quantity or marijuana. His killers fled the scene, and remained unidentified for months.
Jesus Guzman
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department’s Central Homicide Unit in partnership with the Menifee Police Department investigated the crime.
The perpetrators remained at large until October 29th, 2018, by which time developments allowed the Riverside Central Homicide Unit to positively identify as suspects Rodolfo Garcia, aged 35, of Perris, California, and Jesus “Chuy” Guzman, aged 34, of Littlerock, a community in Los Angeles County.
Leading up to the identification, the Riverside Sheriff’s Department had shared its information with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and they undertook a search of Guzman’s Littlerock property on October 11th. During the search of his home, investigators located human remains were located.
On October 29th, the Riverside Sheriff’s Department’s SWAT team served a high-risk search warrant at an address on Club Drive in Perris. There, Garcia was arrested without incident and booked into custody on charges of murder related to the killing of Gutierrez Estevez.
Guzman, who was described by authorities as a Hispanic male adult, 5’5” tall, 150 lbs with black hair and brown eyes, remained at large, and was considered armed and dangerous.
Collaboration between investigators at the Los Angeles and Riverside Sheriff’s departments allowed for further uncovering and understanding of information. This pointed to Guzman as a suspect in multiple murders in the Antelope Valley / Littlerock area, as well as the February 5 murder in Menifee.
On November 8th, 2018, Guzman was in an officer-involved shootout with members of the US Marshals Service’s Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force in Inyo County, California, about 180 miles northeast of Littlerock. He was deceased at the scene and a weapon was recovered.
Anyone with additional information regarding this investigation is encouraged to call Investigator Joshua Manjarrez of the Riverside Sheriff’s Central Homicide Unit at (760) 393-3530, or Investigator Martin Alfaro of the Riverside Sheriff’s Central Homicide Unit at (760) 393-3528
