Homicide Suspect in Custody (Updated)
Homicide suspect Bodhi Tree is led into APD. KLH | Eye
Kevin L. Hoover
Eye Editor
SUNNY BRAE – Arcata Police have arrested Bodhi Tree, 28, in connection with the double homicide which occurred on Eye Street this morning.
A mugshot of Bodhi Tree from a previous arrest. HCSO photo
Tree is well known to Arcata Police through previous contacts involving petty crime. He was arrested on Shirley Boulevard following a stakeout at a Marilyn Avenue residence where he had been spotted.
Police had responded to a call from a citizen who had sighted Tree on Marilyn Avenue in Sunny Brae. He had apparently been at a house neighbors say is frequented by travelers.
Arcata Police, Humboldt County Sheriff’s office deputies, Humboldt State University Police and California Highway Patrol officers blocked lower Beverly Drive west of Marilyn Avenue as the house was searched. But Tree was not located.
Shortly thereafter, Shirley Boulevard resident Mo Hollis said he was walking his young daughters and a neighbor girl to the neighbor’s house when Tree walked past them. The girls had been planning to walk there on their own; if they had, they would have passed Tree.
Hollis said Tree mumbled “Peace” in “a weird, low tone” when he walked by.
Back at Hollis’ house, his fiance Morgan Corviday happened to be looking out the window when she saw Tree look around, then hop into some bushes across the street. She immediately called police.
Corviday had read of the double homicide and was aware of the suspect’s description. That, couple with his suspicious behavior, led her to to alert police. “The guy obviously wasn’t from around here,” she said. “If he had just kept going, he would have gotten away.”
Police soon arrived, extricated Tree from the bushes and placed him under arrest.
Lt. Ryan Peterson said Tree is the only suspect in this morning’s twin homicides. He didn’t immediately know if Tree was armed at the time of his arrest.
