Man arrested after 2 bodies found in pickup truck in Santa Cruz mountains

By KTVU Staff

LOS GATOS, Calif. - The California Highway Patrol arrested a 66-year-old Boulder Creek man after two bodies were found last month in the back of a pick-up truck along rural SR-35 in the Santa Cruz mountains near Los Gatos. 

Sgt. Andrew Barclay said James David Collier was taken into custody on Sunday on two counts of murder. 

His arrest stems from March 24, when CHP officers found an abandoned pickup with the bodies of two men inside. They had been shot to death.

Those men were identified by the coroner as Colter White, 53, and Sean Pfeffer, 45.

The relationship of Collier to these two men was not publicly revealed, nor was a motive for the deaths or evidence that linked Collier to the crime. 

The CHP did say that detectives identified Collier as the suspect on April 6 and were able to get a search warrant with help from the Santa Clara District Attorney's Office.

Collier has not yet been charged. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday afternoon.

He is being held in jail with no bail. 

KTVU reached out to the CHP for more information but did not hear back. 

Earlier this month, friends and family of White said he was a "great guy" and that the second victim, Pfeffer, was a friend of White's.  

"Colter was a great guy," said his friend, Janelle Sanford. "He was a great dad, he was a great husband, he was a great everything."

Sanford said White had previously been in trouble with the law but had been turning his life around.

"He was trying to do the right thing with the wrong people," she said. "Trying to get people to be righteous and do right."