Police Say No Public Safety Threat In Suspicious Death Investigation Of 11-Year-Old Boy
PLACERVILLE (CBS13) — Few details have come out in the suspicious death investigation of 11-year-old Roman Lopez in Placerville.
The missing boy's body was found Saturday after an extensive search throughout the area, according to police.
Neighbor Steve Archer said he would catch glimpses of Roman Lopez playing in the back yard of the family's Coloma Street home in Placerville. He told CBS13 he had seen Lopez playing outside the very day Placerville police said Lopez was reported missing.
"When I come out to go to the store, there's police cars all over the place and things happening and I just said 'wow!'" Archer said. "They didn't say where. They didn't say how. They didn't say when."
CBS13 spent the day digging for answers about the suspicious death of this 11-year-old boy. Police aren't releasing much information at this time. A spokesperson said the Placerville Police Department isn't releasing information about where the boy's body was found or how he died.
"With the police department, I'm sure they want to keep some of the information limited. It allows a lot of speculation to occur because of that," Grant Lacher said.
Police have not arrested anyone and said no one is being detained at this time. They did put out a release on Facebook Monday afternoon, saying there is no threat to the public at this time.
On Saturday and part of Sunday, there was a large presence in the neighborhood and police vehicles parked by a nearby church that was next door to the family home where Lopez was last seen. Neighbors told CBS13 that the family had recently moved into the home on Coloma Street.
The pastor of the church told CBS13 he gave police permission to use the property's parking lot for their command post or staging area. But said he knows nothing about the circumstances of the boy's death.
Now, the community is on edge as about exactly how this happened in sleepy small town of Placerville.
"But it would be nice to know a little bit of information of what happened we can also be wary of any problems that we see," Josh Rios said.
"They want to follow up on all of their leads, right? And don't really send out any information until they know what's going on," Matthew Cerruti said.
The Placerville Police Department told CBS13 that Lopez was home-schooled and was one of eight children who lived at the family's home.
