An 18-year-old man suspected of killing three people, including a 16-year-old girl, at a rural Indian reservation in California’s far north was captured in Utah Thursday after a chase, authorities said.
Mauricio Eduardo Johnson of Loleta was arrested on a murder warrant and held without bail. Utah authorities used a spike strip to disable a car associated with him after a short chase, according to a statement from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
A woman in another car and a second man in Johnson’s vehicle were detained, authorities said.
Johnson was wanted in connection with the deaths of a man and a woman who were found Wednesday at a home on the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria Reservation, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Tribal police also found a third person badly injured in the home and she died at a hospital, authorities said.
The victims were identified as Nikki Dion Metcalf, 40; Margarett Lee Moon, 40; and Shelly Autumn Mae Moon, 16.
Two juveniles were found unhurt in the home and were placed in safe custody.
Other details, including whether Johnson was related to the victims or the motive for the killings, are unclear.
The causes of death were to be determined by autopsy.
The reservation is near the Eel River northwest of Fortuna, about 220 miles north of San Francisco.