Bay Area man arrested for slaughtering cattle

UPDATE: 8/28/2018 10:28 a.m. A Bay Area man was arrested for allegedly slaughtering cattle and burying the livestock on his property after getting into a dispute with the cattle owners.

The incident took place on land near Canada de Los Osos Ecological Preserve off Highway 152 in June of 2018.

According to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, the property owner, 54-year-old Marc Belluomini of Fremont agreed to allow cattle to graze on 1500 acres of his South County land earlier this year.

Two separate cattle owners paid to have their animals on Belluomini’s land.

The sheriff’s office said the relationship between the cattle owners and Belluomini grew hostile and one of the owners wanted to remove his cattle from the property.

“On May 25, 2018, Belluomini confronted the cattle owner as the cattle owner attempted to remove cattle from Belluomini’s land. Belluomini brandished a rifle during the confrontation and ordered the cattle owner off the property,” said Sgt. Glennon.

The sheriff’s office got involved and negotiated a solution to remove all cattle from Belluomini’s property.

On June 5, 2018 the cattle owners told deputies that numerous cattle had been slaughtered and buried on Belluomini’s property.

Investigators found 11 dead livestock on the property.

“Investigators were able to recover bullet fragments from some of the deceased cattle in addition to other evidence,” Sgt. Glennon said.

Belluomini was arrested on Monday (8/27) and booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail. He later posted bail set at $200,000.

“I am extremely proud of the exquisite work by our investigators in this unusual case. I truly hope justice will be served in response to the cruel killing of these animals.” – Sheriff Laurie Smith

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CBS SF– Investigators in Santa Clara County have now found nearly a dozen cattle dead near Henry Coe State Park outside of Morgan Hill.

Authorities believe cattle paid the price for a dispute over ranch land and the killer tried to bury the evidence.

The sheriff’s office says the cattle were discovered in a shallow grave on the land of a Morgan Hill ranch on Thursday and may have gone undetected for several weeks on what is now an expanding crime scene.

“Yesterday, we found nine dead livestock. And that number’s 11 now,” said Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith.

Investigators say the cattle’s deaths may be tied to a dispute between the property owner and ranchers with grazing rights on the land.

But right now, the sheriff’s office says no arrests have been made. They are still trying to figure out exactly how the animals died.

“We’re still looking at that. We had veterinarians out at the scene, and they’ll be able to perform the necropsy and determine the cause of death. But everything’s under investigation,” said Smith.

Video shot by Sky Drone 5 of the land showed few signs of the grisly crime investigators think happened here.

The sheriff’s office said they have some of the missing cattle alive, but fear the death toll may yet grow.

“They were in graves. And we used the county’s Parks Department equipment to scoop up an area we knew they were in,” said Smith.