By Hudson Sangree
hsangree@sacbee.com

Published: Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 1B
Last Modified: Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011 - 12:17 pm

Lt. Sergio Gutierrez hopes someday they'll find her.

Gutierrez, the second-in-command at the Winters Police Department, is scheduled to become chief Nov. 15, following the retirement of current Chief Bruce Muramoto.

But before he was chosen to lead the small department or promoted to lieutenant, Gutierrez, 46, directed a complex homicide investigation that raised his own standing, and bolstered regard for Winters police in the region's law enforcement community.

The case was the murder of Leticia Barrales Ramos, a young mother whose body has never been found but whose husband, Felipe Cruz Hernandez, is serving a 15-years-to-life sentence for second-degree murder at California State Prison, Solano.

The couple's 10-year-old daughter, who authorities believe was in the apartment when her father killed her mother, took the stand during the trial. It ended with jurors convicting Cruz Hernandez in January 2010.

"If it wasn't for Sergio Gutierrez, we wouldn't have had a conviction," said Muramoto, a veteran of four decades in law enforcement. "He was relentless."
Beyond the lack of a body, the case was complicated by the fact that Winters, a city of 7,000 in rural Yolo County, hadn't had a murder in a dozen years. The department, which has only 10 officers, often operates with just one officer on duty and doesn't have any detectives.

Gutierrez, a patrol sergeant at the time of Ramos' death, had to learn on the job as he led the investigation.

Barrales Ramos, 28, was last seen April 12, 2009. The case began a day or two later when co-workers at one of her two jobs expressed concern that she hadn't come to work. It wasn't like her, they said. Police asked her husband, who said she had left hurriedly for a family emergency. He switched stories, telling officers and others that she'd gone to North Carolina or Mexico, Gutierrez said.

Suspicions grew over a period of weeks. A lone patrolman, Officer Albert Ramos, worked the case, fitting it in among his other duties.

When it became clear they could be dealing with a homicide, Muramoto assigned Gutierrez as lead investigator. Gutierrez said he and others conducted more than 100 interviews. Because the Winters police station was so cramped, they had to conduct interviews in a conference room at City Hall and at a city-owned dance studio across the street.

Barrales Ramos was having an affair, they learned, but friends said she was close to her daughter and would never have left her behind. Authorities found her purse with her passport, driver's license and $1,000 in cash. There was no trace of her using her credit cards or bank account.

It was painstaking detective work for a department already stretched thin.
"You put one piece of the puzzle together and then another piece," Gutierrez said.
Eventually he asked for help from the Yolo County District Attorney's Office and the FBI.

In late May – six weeks after the initial missing-persons report – the investigative team executed a search warrant at the couple's apartment. They found large bloodstains under the carpet that matched Barrales Ramos' DNA. There was a receipt for a carpet cleaner that Cruz Hernandez had rented soon after his wife's disappearance.

Cruz Hernandez was arrested and tried. Jurors swiftly convicted him of second-degree murder. Without a body or murder weapon, they said they couldn't determine if the killing was premeditated or an act of passion.

"I was happy to see the jury saw what we saw," Gutierrez said. "They found we did our job and put together a solid case."

Gutierrez was promoted to lieutenant a few months later. Sitting at his desk Thursday, he gave much of the credit for the investigation to his colleagues and to the FBI and the Yolo District Attorney's Office. Muramoto said that's typical of the modest, hardworking lieutenant.

The leadership Gutierrez demonstrated during the investigation, and his ability to work with outside agencies, were among the reasons Winters officials saw him as a strong in-house candidate to become police chief, Muramoto said.

Gutierrez said he would still like to tie up loose ends in the Barrales Ramos case. No one knows how Cruz Hernandez disposed of his wife's body, he said, though theories abound. He monitors reports of human remains found in the area and hopes to one day establish a genetic match.

"Often I think about whether we'll uncover her body," Gutierrez said. "To bring closure to her family. To bring closure to her daughter."

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

More Information

LT. SERGIO GUTIERREZ

By Hudson Sangree
hsangree@sacbee.com

Published: Tuesday, Sep. 27, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 1B

For years, police in Winters handcuffed prisoners to a metal rail bolted to the wall, and they stored paper towels in the city's antiquated jail cell. They put evidence into gym lockers, held down the rotting carpet with duct tape, and worked in cramped, run-down spaces.

The Yolo County grand jury urged the city to replace the police station behind City Hall."It was demoralizing," said Winters Police Chief Bruce Muramoto. "It was dysfunctional."

Firefighters didn't have it much better. The garage where they parked their fire trucks was so narrow that they couldn't open doors on both sides of a truck at the same time. Part of the fire station was a hay barn from the 1890s. Peeling linoleum lined the halls. The chief put up a sign in his dark hole of an office that read "mental ward."

In the past two weeks, all that's changed. Police and firefighters have been moving into a state-of-the-art new public-safety facility on Main Street that has been years in the making and cost $8.4 million. It boasts necessities, including two modern holding cells for prisoners, and amenities such as a big-screen TV and leather recliners for the firefighters.

The 43,000-square-foot station is light and airy, modern and functional.
The fire side of the building is red. The police side is blue. Its architecture mirrors the agricultural buildings of the surrounding countryside. From Main Street, it looks like a big red barn.

Those who work there couldn't be more pleased."My guys are overwhelmed and proud of being in a facility as nice as this," Muramoto said. "This is their home. This is their house."

State redevelopment dollars paid for the new station, said City Manager John Donlevy. It was built for about $170 a square foot; similar projects elsewhere cost about $300 a square foot, he said. The costs savings came from the design and from lower construction costs during the recession, officials said. The station was designed by architect Dennis Dong of Sacramento and built by Bobo Construction of Elk Grove.

On Monday, Muramoto and Fire Chief Scott Dozier gave visitors a tour of the new facility. An open house for residents is planned in October. Dozier showed off a vast parking bay filled with firetrucks. The garage has a heated floor and huge ceiling fan, allowing comfortable use year-round. Smiling, Dozier said there would be plenty of room for the "shrimp-and-pasta feed" fundraiser the department will hold next month.

Racks of hoses line the walls. Firefighters stowed their new protective gear, paid for with a voter-approved increase in utility fees. From their second-story sleeping quarters, with pillow-topped mattresses and study spaces, they practiced sliding down a brass pole to the trucks below. The new sleeping quarters and increase in utility rates allow for 24-hour staffing of the fire station seven days a week. With only four paid, full-time firefighters, the department relies on about four dozen volunteers and reservists.

Dozier said the new public-safety facility would help attract businesses and residents to the town of 7,000 in western Yolo County. Residential and economic growth is part of the city's general plan."This building is opening a whole new chapter in Winters," he said.

Muramoto is grateful for new amenities such as rooms to interview victims and suspects. The old police station, a converted fire station behind City Hall, didn't have them. Officers often had to search other public buildings for private interview spaces. It also didn't have hot water in the men's room, and the toilet was covered in duct tape because it didn't flush. There were just a few small lockers for officers to stash their clothes. That's why Muramoto showed a visitor the new locker room, with spacious lockers, showers and gleaming wood benches.
There's a high-tech training room and an armory for weapons that replaces an old gun safe. The reception area has bulletproof glass; the old station had a sliding plastic window.

Records supervisor Karla Ferguson said she relied on her smile to prevent trouble.
The Winters Police Department has 10 officers, and often only one officer on duty, due to budget cuts. Muramoto called the new station one of the nicest in the region and said it will help officers work more efficiently and with less stress, despite their depleted ranks.

Some residents grumble that the large new station was unnecessary.

Muramoto said the facility was built to be functional for decades to come but wasn't lavish."It's not a Yugo or a Cadillac," he said. "This is a Toyota Camry."

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

By Loretta Kalb
lkalb@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Jun. 14, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 3B

Yolo County and four of its cities are among entities about to create a shared Office of Emergency Services to eliminate costly overlap and to jointly serve the area in the event of a disaster.

Patrick Blacklock, Yolo County executive, said the effort is "just one in a series of services we're taking a look at" to work on cooperatively and to jointly fund. "OES will be first."

The joint effort includes the cities of Woodland, Davis, West Sacramento and Winters, the Yolo County Housing Authority and the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation. The aim: eliminate the need for each locale to create and run its own emergency system.

Blacklock said the county is working to avoid layoffs in the coming fiscal year but to conserve funds as tax revenues show signs of stabilizing after several years of decline.

The shared services approach is part of that effort to add efficiency despite reduced costs.

Participants to the OES plan are finalizing a memorandum of understanding to establish the program for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

"The Office of Emergency Services provides a critical role within each county and each service area," said Mark Deven, Woodland city manager. "Each city maintains a group of people who duplicate much of what OES does."

That means each entity needs to provide training and be in control of its own financial reports and to submit paperwork to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Deven said.

The aim in collaboration, he said, is to provide more coordinated and effective emergency response.

"That's huge – all of us coming together," Deven said. "We're all going to have to work together should, God forbid, a disaster strike."

Article Featured in The Sacramento Bee

By GEOFF JOHNSON
Created: 11/08/2010 02:30:28 AM PST

Neal Peart, left, hands a replica fire engine to Woodland Fire Chief Tod Reddish. (Matthew Henderson/Democrat)

Soon-to-retire Woodland Fire Chief Tod Reddish was honored Thursday by the Woodland Fire Volunteer Support Branch. Reddish, 54, plans to retire at the end of November but is likely to take up a part-time position with the city as it considers his replacement.

Reddish told The Daily Democrat he is stepping down with "mixed emotions," citing frustration with the economic crunch the city faces. "I've been here three years and it seems like all we've done is cut positions," he said. He said he hopes his retirement will stop some of that. "We were looking at potential layoffs at the firefighter ranks," Reddish said. "And so it was an opportunity for me to go ahead and maybe ease some pressure on the department's budget."

Reddish came to the Woodland Fire Department in December 2007 after working with fire departments in Eureka and at UC Davis, earning the rank of assistant fire chief at the latter. Before that he spent six years as a police officer. He may seek fresh opportunities in the private industry after a period of rest, he said.

Reddish spoke briefly at the dinner, using his time to praise the Woodland Fire volunteer Support Branch. Though the group is involved in community service throughout Woodland, it was founded with the idea of restoring classic fire engines and memorabilia dating back to the local fire department's beginnings in 1876. "I don't know any other department that has so many of the original motorized engines," Reddish told the audience.

He was awarded a plaque stating the branch "wishes him well in your retirement" and a model of a 1923 American Le France fire engine, the first motorized truck to belong to the Woodland Fire Department.

Also honored Thursday were Carl and Louise Martinez, two branch members active with the group since its beginnings. "If we have something going on, you can always bet the bank the Marintez's will be there," founder and branch president Neal Peart said.

Article featured in the Daily Democrat

Woodland Fire Department Goes Pink

Woodland Firefighters

For the month of October, Woodland Fire Department firefighters are showing their support of Breast Cancer Awareness month by wearing pink T-shirts in honor of family members and friends who have battled this disease. The Woodland Professional Firefighters Association is also selling the T-shirts with profits going to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Interim top cop started as traffic officer with WPD, eventually rose to captain

By JAMES NOONAN / Daily Democrat
Created: 09/09/2010 02:34:30 AM PDT

Woodland Police Chief Dan Bellini's transition from traffic enforcement officer to the city's top cop was a move 23 years in the making.

On Wednesday afternoon, a little more than two months after former Chief Carey Sullivan's departure, City Manager Mark Deven announced that Bellini's role as interim police chief would be made permanent.

"I'm excited for the opportunity," Bellini said. "For a long time we've shown that we have quality personnel here and I'm excited for the opportunity to work with them while continuing to serve the community."

Bellini is somewhat of a hometown hero, having first arrived in Woodland back in 1978, and his pride and optimistic outlook for his community extends deep into the department that he now leads.

"We've got a lot of new potential growth coming through our organization," he said. "It's an exciting time."

During his brief stint as interim chief, Bellini's ability to fill the position was evaluated by Deven as the two established a close working relationship. "Over the last two months, I have found (Bellini) to be an excellent leader and manager," Deven stated. "He works well with the community, the men and women of the police department and other members of our city organization." Bellini and Deven were quick to point out a recent example of so-called "community oriented policing" in which, under Bellini's guidance, members of the police department implemented an innovative combination of solutions to lower crime in a Woodland neighborhood that requested aid from law enforcement back in July. "We met with some of the neighbors and they were able to point out some things that were wrong with the area," Bellini said, noting that empty lots overgrown with weeds, downed fences and darkened street lights were establishing an environment conducive to crime.

"It kind of went back to that broken window theory," Bellini said. "It became a matter of us coordinating an effort between various agencies to fix these issues that, things-in-themselves, were thought to be insignificant, but were collectively contributing to the greater problem."

Bellini will officially take the reigns at the Woodland Police Department starting on Friday, Oct. 1, and an official swearing in ceremony will take place shortly after.

Article featured in the Daily Democrat