Three people arrested for stabbing Pleasant Hill Park to death in February –

PLEASANT HILL, Calif. (June 5, 2024) — Pleasant Hill Police investigators have arrested three people in connection with the February 10, 2024 stabbing death of Santiago Jacobo.

In the early hours of February 10, Pleasant Hill Police dispatch received a report of a man unconscious and unresponsive. The man was found lying on the ground in the main parking lot of Pleasant Hill Park.

Police and medical personnel responded to the scene and determined the man was deceased. Upon further examination, they determined the man had been stabbed.

Last Friday, police arrested Pablo Gutierrez-Morales, 31, Concord; Vanessa Vera-Aguilar, 24, Antioch; and Jazmin Ruiz, 25, Antioch. Officers booked the suspects into the Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

During a three-month investigation, Pleasant Hill Police detectives obtained evidence indicating the victim and suspects knew each other. They all worked together at Watermark at San Ramon, an assisted living facility.

Investigators say evidence shows the arrested suspects planned, coordinated and carried out the attack on Jacobo on the night of February 10, 2024. Jacobo had just finished his job as a guard at Pleasant Hill Park.

Detectives determined that before Jacobo's murder, he had been in a relationship with suspect Vanessa Vera-Aguilar. At the same time, another suspect, Pablo Gutierrez-Morales, was in a new relationship with her.

Police detectives are asking anyone with information regarding Jacobo's death and the suspects involved to contact the Pleasant Hill Police Bureau of Investigation at (925) 288-4630.

The Pleasant Hill Police Department expressed its thanks to the San Ramon Police Department for their assistance. They also thanked the Pleasant Hill Recreation and Parks District for its continued assistance throughout the homicide investigation.