Video shows persons of interest in Rohnert Park woman's death
NAPA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- More than two months after a Rohnert Park woman was found fatally injured on a rural Napa County highway, investigators are using YouTube to release a video they hope leads them to two persons of interest.
Investigators say they've had the video for some time, and thought they could track the men down on their own. After two months of trying, that hasn't happened. So now they say it's time to release the video to the public.
Napa County sheriff's officials hope the surveillance video helps identify the two men last seen with 57-year-old Maria Bejar on the night of Nov. 15, 2014.
Investigators retraced her steps, and found she visited three Sonoma County restaurant -bars the night before she was found on Highway 29 in Napa County.
"The video shows the victim with two Hispanic males," said sheriff's Capt. Doug Pike. "We have them identified as persons of interest number one and number two. Number one has like a slight goatee. And he seems to be the primary person, most closely associated with Mrs. Bejar that night."
Bejar was found early the next morning, partially clothed and barely alive, along Highway 29 in rural Napa County; a mountainous road that leads to Lake County.
"In the middle of the southbound lane," Pike said. "And she had some major trauma that we were able later to determine appeared to be caused by being struck or run over by a vehicle."
Police believe Bejar met the two men at her second stop that night -- the Mi Ranchito Restaurant in Cotati. Later, she can be seen holding the hand of the taller man as they leave.
"Cruth was a woman who had a heart of gold," said Ed Piotrowski, father of Bejar's ex-husband.
Piotrowski stayed close with the woman known as "Cruth," and employed Bejar in his group home for developmentally disabled teenagers.
Bejar had moved here from Spain, where she received a master's degree in physiology.
"Her loss has been devastating," he said. "Not just to me and my family, but to the lives that this woman touched, all over the world."
Investigators hope someone can identify the men in the video. Anyone with information is asked to call the Napa County Sheriff's Office's Investigations Bureau at (707) 253-4591 or to leave an anonymous tip with Napa Valley Crime Stoppers at (800) 450-9543. People can also text a tip to 274637 with "NVCS" at the beginning of the message.
