Vineyard owner, investor dead in murder-suicide

A meeting over pending civil litigation between two businessmen spun out of control south of Yountville on Monday with a vintner shooting and killing his former investor and then killing himself after fleeing from sheriff’s deputies, according to the Napa County Sheriff’s Office.

Robert Dahl, 47, of Fairfield, met his former investor, Emad Tawfilis, 48, of Los Gatos, at Dahl Vineyards at 6155 Solano Ave. shortly before noon Monday. The two were meeting over pending litigation between them, sheriff’s officials said.

Last year, Dahl had sued Tawfilis over loans he made to Dahl and his winery business, according to court records. But during the meeting, Dahl assaulted Tawfilis and chased him out of the winery building. Tawfilis ran through the vineyard, with Dahl pursuing him in a black Toyota SUV, according to the sheriff’s office.

As he ran, Tawfilis called 911 and reported he had been shot. Investigators said it appears Dahl repeatedly fired a .22-caliber handgun from the SUV as he chased Tawfilis. Tawfilis fell to the ground near the intersection of Hoffman Lane and Solano Avenue.

Dahl got out of the SUV, walked over to Tawfilis and executed him on the ground just as deputies arrived, according to the sheriff’s office. When he saw the deputies arrive, Dahl ran back to his SUV and sped away on state Highway 29 with the deputies in pursuit, sheriff’s officials said.

The deputies, Napa police and a California Highway Patrol helicopter chased Dahl to Wall Road, where he crashed through a gate and stopped in a wooded area. Thinking he may have run from the car, the deputies called in a SWAT team and set up a perimeter around the crashed SUV.

But once they approached the vehicle, they found Dahl dead in the driver’s seat from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the sheriff’s office. Autopsies for the two men are scheduled for later today, sheriff’s officials said. ScottMorris1153a03/17/15 CONTACT: Capt. Doug Pike (707) 299-1529 Copyright