By Phil Helsel - NBC News
A 2020 Northern California wildfire in which two people died was intentionally set to cover up a murder, authorities said Wednesday.
The Markley fire occurred near a dam in Solano County, where
the charred body
of 32-year-old Priscilla Castro
was found
, according to the Solano County Sheriff's Office and Vacaville Police.
Two other people, Douglas Mai, 82, and Leon 'James' Bone, 64,
were found dead
from that fire at their homes, Sheriff Tom Ferrara said at a news conference.
Víctor Serriteno was detained by Vacaville police in September and charged with murder in Castro's death, and prosecutors will press two other counts of murder and arson, the district attorney said.
[He went to work and never returned: there are 5 suspects in the death of a Venezuelan taxi driver]
"Based on an extensive eight-month investigation, we believe that Serriteno deliberately set the Markley fire in an
attempt to conceal his crime
," Ferrara said.
The Markley fire broke out on Aug. 18, and Castro's burned body was found in a rural area near Lake Berryessa the following month, according to Vacaville police.
About 200 people rescued from a reservation surrounded by California fires
Sept.
7, 202002: 42
Investigators believe Castro, a resident of the city of Vallejo, went to Vacaville to meet Serriteno on August 16.
She was never heard from again, according to police.
Court records show that Serriteno
is represented by a public defender
, but they do not appear to identify a lawyer by name.
[Actor Pablo Lyle faces a new lawsuit for the death of the man he hit after a traffic argument]
The Markley fire was joined by a larger one, the Hennessy fire, which was eventually considered part of the massive fire known as the LNU Lightning Complex.
That massive fire was the result of two days of lightning strikes and
is considered one of the largest in California history
, according to the
California
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire.
The LNU
burned more than 363,000
acres in five counties, destroyed nearly 1,500 structures and is credited with six deaths.
The great fire was fully contained in early October.
It burned in Lake, Napa, Sonoma, Yolo and Solano counties.
[Ahmaud Arbery case: the three men accused of her murder are now indicted for hate crimes]
Cal Fire said in a report that the 2020 fire season will be counted as
one of the most severe in American history
.
California's "2020 fire siege" consumed 4.2 million acres, killed 31 people, including three firefighters, and destroyed more than 9,200 structures.
