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Police on Friday announced the arrests of three people in connection with the murder of a janitor at Pleasant Hill Park nearly four months earlier, alleging a romantic triangle forged in San Ramon was at the heart of the motive.
Confirming the major break in the investigation into the February stabbing death at the popular park just outside downtown, the Pleasant Hill Police Department reported detectives determined that the victim and the three suspects worked together at The Watermark at San Ramon and that the victim and a female suspect had been in a relationship while another suspect also pursued a new relationship with her.
“The evidence shows that the arrested suspects planned, coordinated and carried out the attack … after (Santiago) Jacobo had finished his shift working as a custodian at Pleasant Hill Park,” police said Friday afternoon (May 31). “Our thoughts and condolences remain with the Jacobo family.”
Pablo Gutierrez-Morales, 31, of Concord; Vanessa Vera-Aguilar, 24, of Antioch; and Jazmin Ruiz, 25, of Antioch were taken into custody on Friday on suspicion of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, according to Pleasant Hill police. It was not immediately clear when the arrestees’ were due to be arraigned or whether they were yet represented by attorneys.
The homicide and prominent investigation at the park on Gregory Lane shocked the central Pleasant Hill community over the weekend before Valentine’s Day.
The body of 37-year-old Santiago Jacobo was found in the park’s parking lot at around 4:45 a.m. Feb. 10 by his wife, who went looking for her husband after he didn’t return home to Pittsburg after his Friday night custodial shift at Pleasant Hill Park, police reported at the time.
“We are shocked and deeply saddened by Santiago Jacobo’s death,” Pleasant Hill Recreation and Park District General Manager Michelle Lacy said in a statement at the time. “PHRPD has been in existence for over 70 years and nothing like this has ever happened before. Our deepest condolences go out to his wife, two children and extended family.”
Lead custodian Jose Martinez lauded Jacobo as “an all-around good guy,” saying his co-worker was “dependable, a hard worker and had a great ‘can-do’ attitude,” in the PHRPD press release on Feb. 12. Officials also acknowledged that Jacobo had been employed by the district since October 2019, working as a custodian on nights and weekends as a second job to support his family.
As it turned out, the key to solving the homicide — according to Pleasant Hill police — would be found at Jacobo’s primary workplace in San Ramon.
During the course of a three-month-plus investigation, detectives unveiled an apparent love triangle at The Watermark senior-living facility on Alcosta Boulevard where Jacobo and all three suspects worked in various roles and knew each other, according to police.
“Detectives determined that prior to Jacobo’s murder, he had been in a relationship with suspect Vanessa Vera-Aguilar while another suspect, Pablo Gutierrez-Morales, was pursuing a new relationship with her,” police said on Friday.
Police alleged that Gutierrez-Morales, Vera-Aguilar and Ruiz conspired to kill Jacobo after he finished working his second job on the night of Feb. 9. Jacobo was ultimately found by his wife unresponsive with stab wounds lying on the ground in the main parking lot and pronounced dead at the scene after paramedics arrived at the park around 5 a.m. Feb. 10, police said.
Additional details about the motive and circumstances of the stabbing have not yet been revealed.
The three suspects were arrested and booked into the Martinez Detention Facility on Friday, according to police – who noted that PHRPD and San Ramon Police Department officials provided key assistance during the investigation.
Pleasant Hill detectives continue to seek more information about the case and ask anyone with information about Jacobo’s death or the arrestees to contact the department at 925-288-4630.
