Josepha Littlewolf Basurto, 31, was found fatally shot on the night of 9 July 2026 inside a pickup truck at 22550 Rifle Range Road, northwest of Covelo in Mendocino County, after a relative who had spent hours looking for her called 911.[1][2] An autopsy on 15 July found that she died of a gunshot wound to the torso, and the death was ruled a homicide.[2]
The property was a large illegal marijuana cultivation site, and detectives examined the grow as part of the homicide inquiry.[1][2] Investigators identified two brothers who had been staying there, Elias Garcia-Acosta, 22, of Adelanto, and a 17-year-old whose name was withheld, and obtained warrants charging both with homicide.[2] Their father, Elias Juarez-Garcia, 44, of Porterville, drove to the property the night of the killing and took his sons out of Mendocino County, the sheriff’s office said; he was charged with accessory after the fact.[2]
Garcia-Acosta and his father were found together in Adelanto on 17 July with help from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office, and were booked into the Mendocino County jail on 21 July.[2] The 17-year-old was still being sought.[2]
Jesus Hernandez Sosa, 35, of Covelo, was arrested on 10 July on felony marijuana charges, including cultivation with illegal water diversion, but was released on 13 July after the district attorney declined to file those charges.[1][2] Investigators later obtained a warrant charging him with homicide and with personally using a firearm in a felony resulting in death, and he was arrested at the Mendocino County Superior Courthouse in Ukiah on 23 July.[2]
Basurto was a mother of four children between the ages of 4 and 13, her family said, and a horse trainer and California Native powwow dancer.[2]