By Henry K. Lee
San Francisco Chronicle
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — A Redwood City man and his girlfriend were arrested Tuesday in connection with the burglary of a Sonoma home belonging to a family of four who died in a weekend crash, authorities said today.
San Mateo police arrested Amber Marie True, 29, after pulling her over for a traffic stop on South Delaware Street at Concar Drive at about 4 p.m. and finding that she had a credit card belonging to Susan Maloney, 42, said police Capt. Kevin Raffaelli.
Maloney, her husband, John, 45, and two children died Saturday night in a crash on Highway 37 in Sonoma County. Their house was ransacked early Tuesday by someone who authorities believe knew they were dead. Among the items stolen was their 2006 Nissan 350Z.
True was initially arrested for driving on a suspended license, Raffaelli said. The credit card was found in a search, along with other items that turned out to have come from the Maloney family’s home on Fryer Creek Drive, authorities said.
Shortly after True was arrested, San Mateo County sheriff’s deputies drove to a home off Skyline Boulevard just south of Highway 92 where her boyfriend, Michael Vincent Gutierrez, 26, was staying, said acting sheriff’s Lt. Wes Matsuura.
Deputies didn’t see signs that he was there and left, but when they returned at 9 p.m., they found the Maloney family’s Nissan parked outside the home, Matsuura said.
The investigators stopped Gutierrez when he left the home at about 9:40 p.m. in the car, Matsuura said.
Investigators served a search warrant at the home and found jewelry, electronics, financial records and other items that had been stolen from the Maloneys’ residence, Sonoma Police Chief Bret Sackett said.
Police believe most, if not all, of the items taken from the home have been recovered, the chief said.
True and Gutierrez were each arrested on suspicion of burglary and vehicle theft. They are being held at Sonoma County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Gutierrez has two prior convictions in San Mateo County for felony grand theft, records show. In 2007, he was convicted of felony evading police, which led to a three-year state prison sentence.
He has a pending case in which he was arrested on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of stolen property and possession of methamphetamine.
True has a case pending in San Mateo County for alleged possession of drugs.
The Maloneys and their children, Aiden, 8, and Gracie, 5, died Saturday night on Highway 37 in Sonoma County when they were hit by a Mini Cooper driven by 19-year-old Steven Culbertson of Lakeport (Lake County). Culbertson died a day later.
As Sonoma police investigate the break-in, the California Highway Patrol is trying to reconstruct the events leading up to the fatal crash.
The CHP said Culbertson, who was driving south on Lakeville Highway, caused the accident when he ran a red light at 70 to 90 mph. His car broadsided the Maloneys, who were heading east on Highway 37 in their Nissan Quest minivan after flying back earlier in the day from a Hawaiian vacation.
Michael Loffredo, 53, of Petaluma said today that he believes he saw Culbertson drinking alcohol at Traxx, a Petaluma bar and restaurant on Lakeville Street, in the hours before the 9:21 p.m. crash. Loffredo said he also noticed a Mini Cooper in the parking lot with Lakeport markings.
A young man he believes was Culbertson had a mixed-drink style glass in his hand. “He was pretty young,” Loffredo said. “I thought he was a busboy. Maybe the manager wasn’t there and they were giving him a drink.”
The two men ran into each other in the bathroom, “so I looked right in his face,” Loffredo said.
Loffredo said he was driving on Lakeville Highway shortly after 9 p.m. when he noticed a Mini Cooper pass him going at least 70 mph.
“It was the beginning of the death ride,” he said. “He was going like a kamikaze pilot. He had a fixed point and he was just going.”
After seeing a picture of Culbertson on the news, Loffredo said he was convinced it was the same man he had seen at Traxx.
Culbertson had his license suspended for a year for drunken driving in 2007, just weeks after he was involved in a crash in Lake County, records show.
The CHP said it was trying to determine whether drugs or alcohol played a role in Saturday’s crash.
Copyright 2009 San Francisco Chronicle