Family Calls Man 'Coward' After He Decapitated Grandmother, Fled with Her Head One Day After Prison Release

A California man has been sentenced after he decapitated his female relative and then fled the scene with her head, authorities said.

Around 3:40 p.m. on Nov. 2, 2023, officers responded to a home in Santa Rosa regarding a possible homicide, according to the Santa Rosa Police Department.

Once officers arrived on scene, they found a deceased female who had been decapitated. The victim’s head was not located at the residence, police said.

Investigators determined 24-year-old Luis Gustavo Aroyo-Lopez killed the female relative and left the scene with her head. While police declined to disclose the relationship between the victim and suspect, neighbors told The Press Democrat that the victim was Aroyo-Lopez’s grandmother.

After a search, Arroyo-Lopez was arrested on Nov. 4, 2023, in San Francisco after an officer spotted him at the Transbay Transit Center, police said.

Santa Rosa Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Patricia Seffens told The Press Democrat that the victim’s head was not in Aroyo-Lopez’s possession at the time of his arrest.

Around 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 4, officers found Lopez-Aroyo's head about a half-mile from where she was killed, officials said. Police have not revealed the cause of death and there's never been a motive unveiled for the crime.

Officials said Aroyo-Lopez was released from state prison on Nov. 1, 2023. He served time behind bars for assault with a deadly weapon and weapons possession charges for cases unrelated to this victim.

Seffens said, “He was supposed to check in with the probation department by end of day Nov. 2 and he did not,” The Press Democrat reported.

Arroyo-Lopez was to be transported from San Francisco to be booked into the Sonoma County Jail, authorities said.

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On June 4, 2024, Aroyo-Lopez pleaded guilty to a murder charge in the death of his grandmother. On June 27, a judge sentenced him to 25 years to life in prison for the murder. The judge tacked on another seven years for Aroyo-Lopez assaulting a guard while in jail, The Press Democrat reported.

During the sentencing hearing, his family said he was a wannabe "gangsta," but instead was just a "coward."

Aroyo-Lopez’s attorney read a statement to his family on behalf of his client apologizing for “all the pain I caused you.” Attorney Nate Raff added, “What I did was unforgivable."