2 charged in 2016 homicide near Royal City

File photo Gustavo Tapia Rodriguez, 40, the alleged shooter in the homicide of Quincy resident Jill Sundberg, is now charged with another man in a double shooting near Royal City that left one dead and another injured in December 2016.

by Richard Byrd
| May 30, 2018 3:00 AM

ROYAL CITY — Two men who are facing charges in connection with the homicide of Quincy resident Jill Sundberg were reportedly also involved in a double shooting that left one dead and another injured near Royal City a few weeks before Sundberg's death.

Grant County prosecutors charged Gustavo Tapia Rodriguez, 40, in Grant County Superior Court with first-degree murder, with special allegations of armed with a firearm, kidnapping and drive-by shooting, second-degree murder-armed with a firearm, first-degree assault-armed with a firearm, first-degree kidnapping-armed with a firearm and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

Also facing charges is 25-year-old Fernando Marcos Gutierrez, who was charged with first-degree murder, with special allegations of armed with a firearm, kidnapping and drive-by shooting, second-degree murder, first-degree assault and first-degree kidnapping.

The two men are also charged in connection with the slaying of 31-year-old Jill Sundberg. In that case Tapia Rodriguez is accused of being the shooter and Marcos Gutierrez is being held as a material witness.

The new charges relate to the Dec. 9, 2016 homicide of 28-year-old Arturo Sosa near Royal City on state Route 26. A second male was shot in the incident and survived the injury. The surviving victim told investigators on the morning of the shooting he and Sosa left Royal City en-route to Othello when the driver of a SUV behind them started flashing the vehicle’s high beams.

The victim vehicle pulled over and the driver recalled seeing at least three males, two of whom got out of the suspect vehicle and one stayed inside. The two suspects then reportedly got Sosa and the surviving victim out of their car, but due to traffic they directed them back to their vehicle and put them in the back seat.

One of the two suspects then started driving the victim vehicle west on SR-26. At some point the victims attempted to take the gun away from the suspect in the front passenger seat, but the driver pulled out a gun and pointed it at the victims. The surviving victim claimed he tried to take the driver’s gun and it was then that he heard a gunshot, which he said was followed up by two additional gunshots.

The victim went on to describe being followed by “a possible” Chevrolet Tahoe the night before the shooting, which he believed was the same one the suspects were in on the morning of the incident. Investigators were able to make contact with several witnesses who were in the area of the shooting who claimed seeing a SUV similar to the one described by the surviving victim.

In May 2017 investigators matched DNA found on the exterior front passenger door handle of the victim vehicle to Marcos Gutierrez. The match was made as a result of the Sundberg homicide investigation, as Marcos Gutierrez’s DNA was located on a beer box at the Sundberg murder scene and he later confirmed his presence at the location. The surviving victim did not pick Marcos Gutierrez out of a photo lineup as being involved in the SR-26 shooting however, but he did identify Tapia Rodriguez as possibly being the person who followed him the night before the shooting.

In July 2017 a fingerprint that was lifted from the rear passenger side door of the victim vehicle was identified as a match to the right middle finger of Tapia Rodriguez. Another key piece of evidence relates to tire tracks. As a result of the Sundberg homicide investigation the sheriff’s office impounded a GMC Yukon, which is suspected to have belonged to Tapia Rodriguez and is believed to have been used to transport Sundberg to the location where she was shot and killed. Tire tread patterns were found in the snow at the scene of the Sosa homicide that “appeared” to match the tire tread patterns on the Yukon.

In April the sheriff’s office announced the arrest of Sosa’s ex-girlfriend, Eustolia Campuzano, 27, and Paula Rodriguez Cuevas, 29, in connection with the SR-26 shooting. Campuzano claims she told Rodriguez Cuevas that Sosa used to assault her and she introduced her to two males at the Shady Tree RV Park, the same location where Sundberg was abducted from near George. Campuzano claimed she spoke with a man, believed to be Marcos Gutierrez, about Sosa and he asked her questions about him.

Marcos Gutierrez, another male - possibly Tapia Rodriguez - and a man named Julio Albarran Varona, 26, who is also charged in the Sundberg homicide, allegedly stayed with the two women in Othello the night before the SR-26 murder. Campuzano was allegedly with the three males on the morning of the shooting, but she said she stayed in the SUV with another male when the actual shooting took place.

The two women are currently charged with first-degree assault in the SR-26 shooting. Charges have not been filed against Albarran Varona in the SR-26 shooting.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.