Wine maker allegedly fatally shoots investor before taking own life

YOUNTVILLE, Calif. (KGO) -- Napa County Sheriff's deputies are piecing together mysterious homicide in a Yountville vineyard that ended with the suspect being found dead in his car due to an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Deputies arrived with the killer still on scene. The body of investor Emad Tawfilis was lying on the corner of this vineyard along Highway 29 in Napa. He had just made a frantic call to 911 claiming he'd been shot and someone was trying to kill him.

"As they go to approach the parties in the vineyard, the armed subject flees into a dark colored or black SUV and leaves the scene," Sheriff's Capt. Doug Pike.

The suspect was Robert Dahl -- the owner of Dahl Vineyards. Deputies chased him into the Napa hills where he crashed through a cattle gate, then took his own life with a gun.

"This was a business dispute. It was not an unusual business dispute," Dahl's attorney Kousha Berokim said.

Berokim says the sheriff's office has confirmed the deaths of both men. He said Tawfilis was suing his Dahl, claiming Dahl had defrauded him out of more than $1 million. Both attorneys were on a conference call with the two men shortly before the shooting.

"There was nothing odd, or ironic, or dramatic, or violent about anybody's demeanor," Berokim said.

Tawfilis died from a gunshot wound to the head. Investigators found a bullet casing on the street.