- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Who killed Patrick Weber? CHP works to solve murder along Highway 20
Patrick Michael Weber, 41, was found dead in his white 2014 sprinter van shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday in an area about two miles west of the Colusa County line, east of Clearlake Oaks, as Lake County News has reported.
CHP Clear Lake Area office Commander Lt. Randy England confirmed to Lake County News this weekend that Weber’s death is being investigated as a homicide.
Investigators from the CHP and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office are trying to put together what happened to Weber – including where he was in the days leading up to his death, why he was in Lake County and who would have wanted to take his life.
Weber’s family is mystified by the death of the husband and father.
“I just can’t imagine that anyone could have anything against him,” his wife, Angela Weber, told Lake County News.
A possible factor in the homicide is that Patrick Weber worked in the cannabis industry, although investigators have so far not stated if that was a motive.
Patrick Weber’s vehicle was discovered after a passing motorist called 911 at 7 a.m. Thursday to report that a white van had gone off the roadway on Highway 20, about a mile west of Walker Ridge Road, according to the CHP.
The CHP said its officers and Northshore Fire personnel responded, finding the van, which was headed eastbound, had traveled off the south edge of the highway and into a ditch, crashing into a tree.
When the officers and firefighters approached the vehicle, they found Weber deceased in the driver’s seat, the CHP said.
What looked like a simple crash at first soon turned into a complex criminal investigation. England told Lake County News in a weekend interview that when he arrived at the scene, “Something just didn’t seem right.”
For one, the officers investigating the crash found red paint transfer marks on the vehicle’s driver’s side, which the CHP said raised the possibility of a hit-and-run collision or possibly an intentional act. That led to the request to bring in the CHP Northern Division Multidisciplinary Accident Team, or MAIT.
On Thursday night, Weber’s body was taken to Chapel of the Lakes Mortuary in Lakeport, where the CHP had directed an autopsy be conducted immediately. The result was the determination that Weber’s cause of death – which hadn’t been immediately apparent at the scene – appeared to have been a homicide.
On Monday, Officer Joel Skeen said the CHP is still not ready to report Weber’s exact cause of death, which he said wasn’t consistent with a crash.
“It was apparent that he was in the vehicle when it crashed. He had the seat belt marks,” said Skeen.
However, during the autopsy it appeared that something had happened to Weber that caused the collision, Skeen said.
Skeen said CHP took the van for evidence. Weber is listed as the registered owner of the vehicle, which Skeen said the MAIT team will fully inspect for signs of any mechanical issues.
The CHP is not releasing information about what it found in Weber’s van, Skeen said.
He said investigators also are trying to create a timeline of Weber’s travels. “They are looking at where he has been for the last several days before the incident,” Skeen said. They’re particularly interested about why he was in Lake County.
Angela Weber said her husband left their Santa Clarita home at about 2 p.m. Monday. She said her husband worked in the cannabis industry, and that he has been working on permits and education to comply with new state rules, but added that he kept her in the dark about his business.
She said she knew he was doing a “trim run,” which she said she believed was to be used for vape pens.
“I don’t know any of the details of where he was going or who he was meeting. He never told me any of that stuff,” she said.
However, she’s received information that he stayed at Motel 6 in Eureka on Tuesday night. Sometime on Wednesday, he stopped at a gas station he frequented – she wasn’t sure where – because it has strong coffee.
The time of the wreck itself also isn’t known so far, the CHP said. However, Angela Weber said she and her husband exchanged texts at about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, and that was the last she had heard from him. That narrows the timeframe to an 11-hour period, ending at 7 a.m. Thursday, when the vehicle and Weber’s body were found.
As to whether this was a random or a targeted act, “We’re considering both options,” Skeen said.
Investigators also are trying to identify a suspect. “They haven’t narrowed it down to a single suspect at this point but they’re still looking into everybody that he’s been in contact with,” Skeen said.
Skeen confirmed that investigators have contacted the family, which is providing necessary information. Angela Weber said she’s spoken to both CHP Officer Jake Slates and Lake County Sheriff’s Det. Jerry Pfann.
Family seeks answers
Angela and Patrick Weber would have been married five years in May. Angela Weber is a yoga teacher and homemaker.
She said her husband had put a lot of effort into his work in the cannabis industry, and that he was working with a farm “up north.” She believed he was selling through a dispensary, although she did not know how long he’d been doing it, adding she thought he felt it better not to tell her.
He was gone on trips a lot. “And a lot more lately,” she said, explaining he would be gone for several days at a time and that it was stressful.
She said other people also are trying to work legally in the cannabis industry to provide for their families, and that they shouldn’t be at risk. “This cannot be happening to people. Patrick was a good man.”
In the wake of her husband’s death, Angela Weber is concerned about getting answers and keeping her family safe.
While she’s received messages of condolence, she was unnerved after posting pictures of him on her Instagram account on Sunday and then, on Monday morning, receiving frightening messages from another Instagram account. She said she sent screenshots of the messages to a detective.
“It just felt crazy,” she said.
She said that she wants more information to hone in on the answer to the case.
“My husband was the kindest, most caring, wonderful man, an amazing family man,” a yogi and a peaceful person, she said.
She added, “I wish I’d asked more questions."
Anyone with information about Patrick Weber, including his whereabouts in the days before the crash, and the crash itself, is asked to call the CHP’s Ukiah Dispatch Center at 707-467-4000 and ask to speak to the lead investigator, Officer Jake Slates.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
