Point Reyes Light - August 10, 2000
Woodacre homicides lead to trail of death
A six-day search for a missing Woodacre woman, a double-homicide last Thursday in her Woodacre apartment, and the disappearance of an elderly Concord couple thought to be robbery victims of her boyfriend, took a gruesome turn Wednesday after the remains of all three missing persons were identified from bags full of body parts discovered in the Mokelumne River.
Selina Bishop, 22, Ivan Lane Stineman, 85, and Annette Lane Stineman, 75, were all confirmed as murder victims after the Sacramento County Coroner identified a minimum of three dismembered bodies stuffed into several duffel bags that have turned up in the Sacramento Delta since Monday.
Law officers Wednesday evening implied that the bags may have held remains from additional victims but offered no confirmation of that.
Three arrested Bishop's boyfriend, Glenn Helzer, 30, along with his brother Justin Helzer, 28, and his brother's girlfriend Dawn Godman, 26, - all of Concord - were being held without bail at the Contra Costa Jail in Martinez after East Bay law authorities connected them to the three murders through evidence found in the trio's suburban home.
Concord police arrested all three suspects on Monday after a four-day search for Helzer, who was known as "Jordan" by Bishop and her friends. The search for "Jordan" - Bishop's boyfriend of three months whom her friends say did not like to be photographed - began after Bishop failed to show up for work last Friday at the Two Bird Cafe in San Geronimo.
That was a day after Bishop's mother, Jenny Villarin, 45, of Novato, and her longtime friend James Gamble, 54, of Yountville, Napa County, were shot to death before dawn at Bishop's Woodacre apartment, where they were housesitting and taking care of Bishop's cat. At the time, Bishop was thought to be camping in Yosemite with "Jordan."
Arraigned on other charges Helzer was booked Monday on robbery, burglary, narcotics, and weapons charges, and pled innocent to those charges Wednesday afternoon. His brother and Godman were booked on narcotics violations but declined to enter pleas.
Contra Costa County prosecutors announced late Wednesday that they expect to amend the charges against the three to include homicide.
Marin Sheriff's investigators were working in Concord on Wednesday to investigate the connection between the three Concord suspects and the shootings on Woodacre's Redwood Avenue, where Bishop had lived for only about a month.
Heard footsteps A close neighbor of Bishop told The Light he was awakened last Thursday at about 5 a.m. by multiple gunshots. "There were four shots, and then two more," the neighbor said. "I heard footsteps running down the hill, and the car was running. A car door slammed, and the car sped away."
Although at least two neighbors called 911 immediately, both Villarin - a bartender at Forest Knolls' Papermill Creek Saloon and clerk at the Nicasio Store - and Gamble were pronounced dead at the scene.
After a man claiming to be Bishop's boyfriend called the Two Bird Cafe about one hour after the murders, speculation circulated that the crime may have been a case of mistaken identity since Bishop and her mother have similar physical features - a theory that has since been dispelled.
Jan Rippe, a spokeswoman for the Marin Sheriff's department, said Wednesday afternoon that no charges have yet been filed by Marin prosecutors in the murders of Villarin, Gamble, or Bishop.
No Marin charges yet "We have not filed any charges against the three people being detained from Concord," she told The Light. "No one has been charged yet with the Woodacre homicides. Our people are over in Concord looking into the case."
The Stineman couple was last seen July 30. On Sunday Oakland police discovered a van belonging to them in an industrial section of Oakland. When Concord police searched Helzer's home after the Monday arrest, evidence of some of the couple's missing belongings was discovered, law officers said.
It has since been revealed that Glenn Helzer, who in various accounts worked as a cable TV installer and teacher of self-improvement seminars, had served as a stockbroker for the Stinemans, fueling speculation that money could provide a motive for their murder.
Prior to the announcement that the three bodies found in the Delta were indeed those of Bishop and the Stinemans, friends and family of Selina Bishop throughout the San Geronimo Valley, Nicasio, and Salinas remained hopeful that a search spanning all of the Bay Area and much of the state would uncover her whereabouts. She was last seen with Helzer on Wednesday, Aug. 2, at a brewery restaurant in Berkeley.
'Sweetest person' Lena Kyle, 20, of Forest Knolls, a lifelong friend of Bishop, visited Bishop while she worked her last shift as a waitress at the Two Bird Cafe. "She is the sweetest person anyone could hope to meet," she said Tuesday beside a memorial of flowers and cards for Villarin and Gamble erected in downtown Forest Knolls. "She would do anything for her friends, and she had a great relationship with her mother. She loved her mother very much."
Kyle explained that while Bishop was enthusiastic about her relationship with Helzer, the two had recently discussed minor problems they were having. "Nobody really knew Jordan," she said. "He wouldn't meet anybody. He was a recluse, and he wouldn't let anybody take pictures of him. She talked about what a great guy he was, but the whole situation with their relationship was really strange."
Gloria Lafranchi of Nicasio, a close friend of Bishop and Villarin, gathered with Villarin's siblings and their children this week as they awaited news of the investigation. Villarin and Bishop lived with Lafranchi in her Nicasio home before they each moved, Vallarin to Novato last year and Bishop recently to Woodacre. Lafranchi told The Light she saw a visible change in Bishop since she first started dating Helzer roughly three months ago.
Had lost weight "She didn't drink and I know she wasn't doing drugs when she lived with me," Lafranchi said. "She was very happy about the relationship, but I noticed that she was losing a lot of weight recently."
Lafranchi as well as Bishop's uncle, David Villarin of Salinas, said Bishop was less visible to family and friends after she started dating Helzer. One of Bishop's cousins told The Light that Bishop at one time expressed concern that Helzer was selling the popular euphoria-inducing drug Ecstasy. Also of concern to relatives were comments by Bishop that Helzer had bragged of some vague "three-million-dollar plan" he intended to follow.
Bishop's inheritance Lafranchi also noted that Bishop had told her she had received an inheritance earlier this year after the death of her grandmother, which gave her access to more money than she typically had. "Jenny and Selina and I had planned a trip to Mexico later this year," Lafranchi said. "Selina had told me she was going to pay for her mother's trip with her inheritance."
Lafranchi explained that Bishop and Villarin had spent most of their lives together since Villarin split with Bishop's dad - blues guitarist Elvin Bishop of Lagunitas - when their daughter was three years old. (The musician was in Montana last week when he was notified of the murders).
Elvin Bishop's 1976 hit song Fooled Around and Fell in Love was written about his love affair with Villarin, Lafranchi said. When Villarin became involved in another relationship in the town of Washington, Pennsylvania, her daughter moved there with her and attended high school.
Villarin returned to California last year to be closer to her daughter, who had moved to Salinas in 1997 to live with her uncle and attend college.
Villarin a 'giving person' Thomasina Wilson, owner of the Papermill Creek Saloon and a friend of Villarin for 24 years, said Villarin was a friend to people all over West Marin. "Jenny was really like family to us," she said. "She was a really giving person who would go out of her way for anybody. She'll be sadly missed."
Wilson said that Gamble and Villarin had a "wonderful friendship," and that Gamble was loved by many patrons who frequent the saloon.
A memorial fund for Villarin has been established by family members at the Bank of Petaluma, 100 Petaluma Blvd. South, Petaluma, 94952-2983, account # 001232533. Those wanting to contribute can do so by mail or call (707) 765-2222.
A memorial service for Villarin, Gamble, and Bishop will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 12, at the Papermill Creek Saloon. The potluck event will feature the Sky Blue Band and many special guests.