LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The discovery of a pickup down an embankment on the Hopland Grade on Tuesday turned out to be an important piece of evidence in a three-month-old murder case.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office confirmed on Friday that the pickup was one that they have sought in connection to the Jan. 18 murder of Forrest Seagrave.
Seagrave, a clerk at Mt. Konocti Gas and Mart on Main Street in Kelseyville, was mortally wounded during a late-night robbery by a masked assailant who fled on foot.
The murder of the 33-year-old Seagrave, known for his kindness and generosity, resulted in heightened concerns from community members about safety, and led to a Feb. 7 town hall in Kelseyville ien which local officials offered updates on the case.
Authorities have so far not named any suspect in the case.
The sheriff’s office reported that at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday detectives received a report of a vehicle over an embankment on Highway 175 over the Hopland Grade which matched the description of the pickup they had been seeking in relation to the Seagrave murder.
Detectives responded to the scene and recovered the vehicle, which they identified as a black 2008 Toyota Tacoma, the sheriff’s office reported. Originally, sheriff’s officials had said the pickup model may have been a Dodge Dakota.
The Toyota pickup found down the embankment had been reported stolen from the Kelseyville area on Jan. 18, the same day as Seagrave’s murder, the sheriff’s office reported.
Officials said the Toyota pickup was transported to a secured location and processed for evidence by detectives and crime scene technicians.
Information about what, if anything, detectives located in that processing was not released on Friday.
Detectives from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office continue to investigate the murder of Forrest Seagrave.
A $10,000 reward, raised from community donations, also is being offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Seagrave’s death.
Anyone with information related to the Seagrave murder investigation should contact the Lake County Sheriff’s Office at 707-263-2690.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.