A Redding man is accused in a triple murder. On April 30th Shasta County Sheriff’s Deputies were asked to do a welfare check on 75-year-old Pamela Castleberry. When they went to her house on Riverview Drive in Lakehead she wasn’t there and it appeared the place had been burglarized. Her car was missing, and it was found the next day near Bella Vista with Castleberry’s dead body inside. On May 6th detectives were called back to the same area where the car was found for two more dead bodies that had been badly burned. They were 41-year-old Cynthia Duran and 48-year-old Louis Sanchez. The area had been searched previously, so the two must have been murdered after the discovery of Castleberry. An investigation led to 33-year-old Michael Todd Merryman being identified as a person of interest as evidence was collected linking him to all three murders. Merryman was on parole for burglary and had a warrant for a violation. On May 13th he was in a car crash in the Oak Run area and was admitted to a Redding hospital. That’s where detectives tracked him down and after he was treated he was booked into jail on 3 counts of murder with special circumstances. He’s being held without bail and will be arraigned Friday.
– Steve Gibson