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Background: News footage of the area where the bodies of Colter White and Sean Pfeffer were found on March 24 (KNTV). Inset (left): Colter White (IMDb). Inset (right): Sean Pfeffer (Facebook).
A California man was arrested in connection with a double homicide a month after one of his alleged victims called him out by name in a Facebook post.
James David Collier, 66, was taken into custody by California Highway Patrol detectives on Sunday, the culmination of a monthlong homicide investigation. On March 24, the bodies of Sean Pfeffer, 45, and Colter White, 54, were found in the back of a pickup truck in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Both died of gunshot wounds, according to the Santa Clara Medical Examiner.
But it was a social media post by one of the dead men, published on the purported day the alleged murders took place, that led the police in Collier’s direction.
In a March 23 post on Facebook, published at 5:10 p.m. that day, Pfeffer seemed to point the finger at Collier. Pfeffer wrote, “If today isn’t work out know that it was James Collier the piece of crap that I invited to this mountain that still hasn’t left,” adding, “I’m rolling down there right now Jimmy I hope you shoot me.”
It was Pfeffer’s last Facebook post before he and White were found dead. KSBW, a local NBC affiliate, reported on the medical examiner’s findings, which said White died as a result of gunshot wounds to the torso and left extremities. Pfeffer died of a gunshot wound to the chest.
Sean Pfeffer/Facebook
According to the CHP, both men were found in the bed of the pickup truck, which led CHP detectives to investigate the deaths as a double homicide.
After identifying Collier as a suspect, a CHP SWAT team, along with detectives and crime scene investigators from the Golden Gate Division Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) and authorities from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, served a search warrant at a residence associated with Collier. The evidence from that April 9 search gave the DA’s office enough to issue an arrest warrant for Collier.
KSBW obtained court documents that stated Collier allegedly confessed to the murders.
The CHP said Collier was taken into custody without incident and booked into Santa Clara County Jail, where he is being held without bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday.
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