Ricardo Gonzalez

On New Year’s Eve 2020, Ricardo Gonzalez, a 31-year-old man, was shot and killed in Greenfield, California. At around 6:51 p.m. on December 31, police responded to a report of a shooting on the 1100 block of Heidi Drive. They found a car idling in a driveway with multiple bullet holes in the driver's side window. Inside, they discovered Mr. Gonzalez in the driver's seat, deceased from several gunshot wounds.

The investigation was led by Greenfield Police detectives, with assistance from the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office Cold Case Task Force and the Salinas Police Department. Investigators dedicated themselves to solving the case, reviewing hours of security camera footage, conducting numerous interviews, and following up on tips. Their work eventually led them to a suspect, a local teenager named Jonathan Rojas.

Detectives executed an early morning search warrant at Rojas’s house, leading to his arrest. During the search, they found his cell phone, which had been hastily thrown into a toilet. The phone was undamaged and contained crucial evidence, including location data that placed Rojas near the crime scene at the time Mr. Gonzalez was killed. Police also seized a pair of Rojas’s shoes, which were consistent with shoe impressions left at the scene where witnesses had reported seeing the suspect flee.

Rojas, who was 17 at the time of the murder, was also linked to other violent crimes, including the September 1, 2020, killing of Nicolas Gasca and the February 11, 2021, attempted murder of an 18-year-old man. He was arrested and charged with two counts of homicide, one count of attempted homicide, and gang-related charges, with his bail set at over $2 million. Despite his age at the time of the crimes, he was set to be tried as an adult.

In April 2025, a jury convicted the now 21-year-old Jonathan Rojas of the first-degree murder of Ricardo Gonzalez. He was also found guilty of shooting at an occupied vehicle, and it was determined that he had personally used a firearm to commit the murder. During the trial, the jury considered evidence of Rojas’s involvement with the Norteno criminal street gang, a derogatory statement he made about the victim after his arrest, and information that the gang had authorized the killing.

As of April 2025, Rojas was awaiting sentencing, which was scheduled for the following month. He faced a sentence of up to life in state prison.