The discovery of two bodies in the back of an abandoned pickup truck in the Santa Cruz Mountains earlier this week is being investigated as a double homicide, the California Highway Patrol said Thursday.
The bodies were found along Highway 35/Skyline Boulevard, three miles south of Castle Rock State Park.
While the coroner has not officially identified either victim, a family member identified one of the two victims as 45-year-old Sean Pfeffer of Boulder Creek. That same person said the second victim was Pfeffer's friend.
UPDATE:@CHP_HQ says the bodies found in back of a pickup truck on SR-35 near Castle Rock Park in Santa Clara County is now a double homicide investigation.
— Damian Trujillo (@newsdamian) March 27, 2025
Coroner has not ID’d the bodies or released cause/manner of death. But sources paint a very disturbing picture pic.twitter.com/0wZbIATFOc
"I only know from his Facebook post that there were problems on the hill, as I will just call it," said Nicki Dorris, a sibling of Pfeffer.
Dorris said she started worrying about her brother two days before he was found dead. She said that her younger brother warned her of possible danger in an obscure Facebook post on Sunday.
She said once she read it she tried to reach him.
"My mom and I were calling the hospitals, and I had already made a missing person’s report, because he wasn’t answering his phone," Dorris said.
The area where the bodies were found is quiet and remote. There were no visible surveillance cameras near the discovery sight.
"I had a case some years ago, many years ago actually, and the body was found in that general vicinity," said Michael Leininger, a retired San Jose Police Department detective.
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Leininger said the area where the men were discovered is a known dumping ground for rogue motorcycle gangs and cartels.
"The Santa Cruz Mountains have been fairly well know as a place to dump bodies – sadly," he said.
