Salinas murder suspect booked into Monterey County Jail

UPDATE: 12/26/2017 9:54 a.m. The murder suspect in a September Salinas homicide has been transferred to Monterey County Jail.

Suspect, Jose Asuncion Gonzalez-Aguilar was arrested in Merced County on December 23 in connection with the September 6 murder of Francisco Aguilar.

Gonzalez-Aguilar was arrested on DUI and murder charges. His bail has been set for more than $1 million.

PREVIOUS STORY: The suspect in a September Salinas homicide has been arrested. Merced County deputies arrested Jose Asuncion Gonzalez-Aguilar Saturday night in connection with the September 6th death of Francisco Aguilar.

Late Saturday night, the Merced County Sheriff’s Department responded to a potential illegal burn in an unincorporated part of the county. There, they discovered Gonzalez-Aguilar’s homicide warrant. Salinas police say he was arrested without incident. Merced deputies contacted the Salinas Police Department and detectives drove to Merced County and transported him back to Salinas.

Gonzalez-Aguilar was questioned before being booked on the homicide warrant and an unrelated DUI warrant.

Gonzalez-Aguilar, age 42, had a $1,000,000 homicide arrest warrant, and was believed to have fled the Salinas area. On September 6, 2017, Salinas police responded to the 100 block of Orchard Ave. They found Francisco Aguilar, age 37, suffering from blunt force trauma to the head. Aguilar was pronounced dead at the scene.

This was Salinas’ 23rd homicide of 2017.