A memorial service was held for Terry Harris in Santa Rosa. Harris was found dead in the back of a car during a traffic stop last month.
Brian L. Frank/For the S.F. Chronicle
For 24-year-old Destiny Fuentes, this Easter had the feeling of a fresh start.
After her great-grandmother passed away this year leaving Destiny to care for her 14-year-old sister, she reconnected with her mother, Desiree Fuentes. In a long, tearful phone conversation, the two women agreed that Desiree would stop using drugs for good and move in with her daughters in Santa Rosa.
Destiny invited her mother over to dye eggs the Saturday before Easter, and they exchanged a flurry of heart emojis over text. But their planned meeting time came and went, and Desiree never showed. When there was still no word from her on Sunday, Destiny started to panic.
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The next day, a police officer called with the news that her mother’s body had been found down an embankment near the Lake-Mendocino County line, more than 50 miles north. The 43-year-old woman and her friend, 58-year-old Terry Harris, had both been fatally shot, authorities later said.
“I can’t wrap my head around it,” Destiny said. “I can’t think of a single justification as to why anyone would want to kill her. We used to go into Target, and she would run into five different people she knew. I was always flooded with strangers telling me, ‘Oh, I love your mom.’”
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More than a month after the double killing, the victims’ loved ones are still grappling with meager details that authorities have provided about their deaths.
A memorial service was held for Terry Harris in Santa Rosa, on May 9. Harris was found dead in the back of a car during a traffic stop last month. Harris’ son, Devin, greeted family friend Karina Florez upon her arrival at the service.
Brian L. Frank/For the S.F. Chronicle
California Highway Patrol officers found Harris’ body in the back seat of a gray Chevy Suburban that they pulled over for a registration violation on Highway 53 in Clearlake, just before 9 a.m. on April 5. Fuentes’ body was later found off Highway 175, CHP said in a statement.
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Police arrested the driver, Jasslynn Critchett, 32, as well as the passenger, Alex Schussolin, 37, who allegedly dropped a gun behind him as he tried to flee, authorities said. Both suspects are from Clearlake and remain in custody without bail. They have each been charged with murder, carjacking and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. A preliminary hearing has been set for June 11.
Investigators believe the carjacking incident began in Sonoma County, moving into Lake County before the traffic stop. No further information was available Thursday, a CHP spokesperson said. The Lake County District Attorney’s Office, which brought the charges, was not available to comment this week.
The car the suspects allegedly took from Fuentes and Harris belonged to Jessica Trafton, a longtime family friend of Harris. He was a gifted mechanic, she told the Chronicle, and borrowed her car while she was out of town for work with the promise to fix it up. He was unhoused at the time, and needed a way to get between his various mechanic jobs and the friends’ houses where he slept.
“When I handed Terry the keys to my vehicle that day, he promised me he’d be safe,” Trafton remembered at Harris’ memorial service this month. “We had our elders forcibly ripped from us. We have our community here today, and at Desiree’s service, to show us that we are not alone.”
Mourners filled Daniels Chapel of the Roses for the service, murmuring in assent as Trafton, and several other speakers called for justice. Many wore purple T-shirts with photos of Harris on a motorcycle, alongside the words “till we ride again.”
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A memorial service was held for Terry Harris who was found dead in the back of a car during a traffic stop last month. Arielle Halvorsen and Shawndra Parker, family friends of Harris, support each other during the memorial service.
Brian L. Frank/For the S.F. Chronicle
Harris’ 31-year-old son, Devin, said his father was so excited about teaching him to drive that he would let him sit on his lap and steer the car when he was a small child. Later, he taught him to ride dirt bikes and motorcycles and to play AC/DC songs on the guitar.
“My dad’s my best friend,” Devin said. “He would not hurt a fly. If he had 20 bucks to his name, he’d give you 10.”
His father’s generous, easygoing nature makes it harder for Devin to understand how the suspected carjacking escalated into a fatal shooting: “He would have given them the truck,” he said. Destiny was left with similarly painful questions about the death of her mother, who she said had no enemies and was “full of light” no matter the challenges she was facing.
Even though they lived apart during her childhood, Destiny said, her mother showed up for holidays and loved taking her to craft stores to buy materials for the art projects they made together. Her mother had a contagious laugh, she said, and had a weakness for McDonald’s despite being an excellent cook.
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Now Destiny’s focus has turned toward securing emergency guardianship of her younger sister as she waits feverishly for more information from authorities.
“I understand that it’s an investigation,” she said. “But there are details that I’m yearning to know and I can’t find out yet, and that’s the hardest part.”