Photo: Stock Image
On April 15th, 2023, at approximately 11:25 AM, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputies were dispatched to a vacant field located to the north of the 23800 block of Howard Street in Covelo, California, following a report of a deceased person.
Upon arriving at the scene, Deputies contacted the uncle of the deceased person, identified as 16-year-old Ruby Sky Montelongo, who had been searching for her after she failed to return home the previous evening. During the search effort, Montelongo’s uncle found her deceased in the vacant field, prompting a call to the Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s Detectives were summoned to the scene and began investigations into the circumstances of Montelongo’s death. During those initial investigations, Sheriff’s Detectives learned that Montelongo had been socializing with a 15-year-old female during the evening of April 14th. The pair knew each other as they both lived in Covelo.
According to Sheriff’s Detectives, the 15-year-old female physically assaulted Montelongo in the vacant field on the evening of April 14th. The detectives developed probable cause which led them to believe that Montelongo’s death was related to the physical assault.
On the same day, April 15th, Sheriff’s Detectives arrested the 15-year-old female who was subsequently booked into the Mendocino County Juvenile Hall on a murder charge.
The investigation is still ongoing to determine the circumstances of the physical assault and Montelongo’s official cause of death. Sheriff’s Detectives are being assisted by investigators from the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.
A forensic autopsy is scheduled for April 19th, which will include BA/Toxicology analysis. The results of the analysis normally take several weeks to be returned to the Coroner’s Office.
In the meantime, the Sheriff’s Office is urging anyone with information that could assist Sheriff’s Detectives in this investigation to contact the Sheriff’s Office Tip-Line by calling 707-234-2100 or the WeTip anonymous crime reporting hotline by calling 800-782-7463.
