Suspect arrested in case of woman run over by RV
Detectives have charged a man who they say ran over and killed a woman with a stolen recreational vehicle in the North Valley earlier this year.
Santos Garcia, 24, was charged with an open count of murder, aggravated battery against a household member, leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death, tampering with evidence and receiving or transferring a stolen motor vehicle in the May 29 death of 48-year-old Zinnia Sillivent.
Garcia was also charged with trafficking a controlled substance after 33 grams of methamphetamine was found on him after his arrest.
“I hope the Sillivent family and the community have a sense of relief, knowing the suspect is in custody,” Sheriff Manuel Gonzales III said in a statement. “We will continue to work hard with prosecutors to see that justice will be served in this horrific case.”
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court:
Deputies responded around 6 a.m. to Fourth and Robin Meadows NW, near Alameda, and found a half-naked Sillivent dead in the street. Her body was badly bruised and scraped, with tire marks across her legs.
An acquaintance of Sillivent told deputies she showed up the day before her body was found in an RV with Garcia and another woman. The next day, the acquaintance said, Garcia returned alone and asked for the key to the RV.
A man came forward and told deputies Garcia admitted to running over Sillivent but said he didn’t “mean for her to get hurt.” The man said Garcia told him he was going to “smack her around for smarting off” when she fell out of the vehicle, hit a pole, and he ran her over.
Detectives interviewed Garcia, who told them he had been with Sillivent and drove around with her in a recreational vehicle, but he dodged further questions and asked for a lawyer.
In June, deputies located surveillance footage from a church and gas station that shows Garcia driving the RV, with Sillivent in the passenger seat, in the area before honking, a crash and a woman screaming are heard.