AUSTIN — Two people who are suspected of committing murder in Sonoma County, California were arrested at an apartment in Austin on Friday, Dec. 21, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.
On Oct. 15, 2016, three people were shot at a residence in an unincorporated part of Sonoma County, during a marijuana robbery. Two victims, 36-year-old Nathan Proto and 28-year-old John Mariana, died as a result of their injuries. A third person, an unidentified 23-year-old woman, was also shot in the head, but she survived.
The investigation into this shooting led Sonoma County Sheriff's Office detectives to 30-year-old Robert Lee Randolph Jr. and 28-year-old Maria Teresa Lebron, both from the Philadelphia area. When their identities and involvement in the murders were determined, they were back on the East Coast, having fled Sonoma County.
The Sheriff's Office worked with the FBI, U.S. Marshals and other law enforcement agencies from several states to locate the suspects.
The Sheriff's Office said on Dec. 21 at around 3:30 p.m., the FBI, in collaboration with the Austin Police Department, were led to an apartment in Austin where Randolph and Lebron were thought to be. The Austin SWAT team served a warrant and the two suspects were taken into custody.
Drugs and at least one weapon were seized and Randolph and Lebron were booked into an Austin jail.
According to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, detectives from their VCI Unit traveled to Austin this weekend to interview Randolph and Lebron, who will both remain in custody of the Travis County Sheriff's Office, pending extradition proceedings to be brought back to Sonoma County.
Once there, they will face criminal charges in the 2016 murders and robbery.