The third suspect in the murder of a Penngrove woman last year pleaded not guilty in Sonoma County Superior Court Monday to six felony charges.
The third suspect in the murder of a Penngrove woman last year pleaded not guilty in Sonoma County Superior Court Monday to six felony charges.
Victor Silva, 28, of Novato, is charged with the murder of Olga Dinelli, 84, at her Rose Avenue home in Penngrove on Feb. 26, 2015.
Silva also pleaded not guilty to kidnapping to rape or rob, burglary, robbery, vehicle theft and cruelty causing great bodily injury to a dependent adult. Silva’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 2.
John Bruno Martinez, 28, of Richmond, pleaded no contest to being an accessory after the fact by renting a car for Silva and his wife Stephanie Hill, 37, of Novato. Martinez was sentenced to two years in prison.
The alleged killers, Silva and Hill, then 37, allegedly stole Dinelli’s 1995 Lexus before they fled to Southern California in the rented Chevrolet Tahoe, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office pursued the couple on eastbound Interstate Highway 10 on Feb. 28. Hill and Silva allegedly shot at passing motorists and at a Quartzsite police officer when they entered La Paz County in Arizona, according to the La Paz County Sheriff’s Office.
Silva surrendered when the Tahoe ran off the road after it struck a spike strip, but Hill allegedly brandished a weapon and was shot and killed by a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy.
Silva was charged with Hill’s murder under Arizona law because it occurred during a police pursuit. He was convicted in December 2015 and sentenced to life in prison in February in La Paz County Superior Court.
Sonoma County sheriff’s officials said Dinelli was tied to a chair and shot in the face. A friend found her body and a large amount of blood in her home and called the sheriff’s office.
Dinelli lived with her 75-year-old brother for several decades, according to the sheriff’s office.
Silva is being held under no bail in Sonoma County Jail.
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