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Mendocino County missing person’s case turns into homicide investigation
NORTH COAST, Calif. – The search for a Willits man who went missing last week has turned into a homicide investigation, with the man’s body found on his property and his son arrested on suspicion of having killed him.
James Presley Whetstone, 29, was arrested for the murder of his father, 69-year-old James Andrew Whetstone, according to a Wednesday night report from Mendocino County Sheriff’s Capt. Gregory Van Patten.
On Monday, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office posted a call for information about the whereabouts of James Andrew Whetstone on its Facebook page.
At that time, the agency said it was actively investigating Whetstone’s reported disappearance.
He was last seen on the morning of Friday, Oct. 9, at the family residence in the 1500 block of Valley Road in Willits.
At that point, authorities said he was believed to have “either walked away or received a ride from someone in a vehicle, although that is not his usual behavior.”
Late Wednesday night, the agency issued an update on the case, reporting that earlier in the day investigators revisited the Whetstone family property.
While there, they developed information that led them to the discovery of a fresh grave that had been concealed with debris, according to Van Patten’s report.
Van Patten said a search warrant was granted for an in-depth search of the property, prompting a further search by sheriff's detectives with the assistance of investigators with the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office.
He said sheriff's detectives excavated the area of the fresh grave and recovered the elder Whetstone’s remains.
Sheriff's detectives were able to link his death to his biological son, James Presley Whetstone, who was arrested upon probable cause, Van Patten said.
Van Patten said the father and son had lived together on the family property.
The younger Whetstone was booked into the Mendocino County Jail on Wednesday night on a charge of murder, according to jail booking records. Van Patten said he was being held in lieu of an as-yet-undetermined amount of bail.
A forensic autopsy of James Andrew Whetstone's body is pending, Van Patten said.
In the meantime, Van Patten said Mendocino County Sheriff's detectives are continuing investigations into the incident.