A fifth fugitive has been arrested in connection with a brutal Mendocino County pot farm slaying, leaving two murder suspects at large.
Frederick Gaestel, 27, of Illinois, was arrested Friday in Virginia on a Mendocino County warrant in connection with the killing of Jeffrey Quinn Settler on Nov. 11, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.
Gaestel was taken into custody after someone notified the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office authorities that he was hiding in a vacant house and that he was wanted for murder. Police confirmed the warrant, surrounded the Williamsburg house and Gaestel surrendered peacefully, authorities said.
Gaestel is expected to be extradited to Mendocino County for prosecution but it could take months if he fights the procedure, officials said.
Gaestel is one of seven people suspected of being involved in killing Jeffrey Settler, 35. Settler was found beaten and stabbed to death on his remote Laytonville property, where marijuana was grown.
Most of the suspects are believed to have worked on the pot farm. Some of the suspects had been evicted from the property days before the killing and there may have been a dispute over payment, authorities have said.
All the suspects fled the crime scene, taking with them a child and a woman who initially also was thought to be a suspect. Police said the suspects may have fled with more than 100 pounds of pot.
Some, like Michael Andrew Kane, 26, of Pleasantville, New York, gave themselves up. Kane turned himself into authorities at the Mexican border in January. He told police he was tired of running.
Zachary Ryan Wuester, 24, of Haskell, New Jersey, and Gary “Giggles” Lynn Fitzgerald, 23, of Roanoke, Illinois, surrendered separately in Mendocino County in November. Abdirahman Mohamed, 28, San Diego, was arrested in December in Southern California.
Still at large are Gary Blank III, 34, of Garberville, and Jesse Wells, 33, of Laytonville. Both are believed to have fled the state.
You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MendoReporter
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