By Gianna Giorgi
January 23, 2019
CARSON CITY, Nev. (KOLO) – 19-year-old Wilber Ernesto Martinez-Guzman was arrested by the Carson Sheriff’s Office January 19, 2019. He’s suspected to have killed Connie Koontz and Sophia Renken in their Gardnerville homes and married couple Gerald and Sharon David in their home in south Reno.
Detectives say the four murders happened between January 9 and January 16.
The Carson City District Attorney’s Office has filed and released a criminal complaint showing some of the property stolen from each of the crime scenes was sold at a coin shop in Carson City.
“We had no I idea it was stolen material,” says Allen Rowe, Northern Nevada Coin owner.
The document reveals that Martinez-Guzman went to Northern Nevada Coin on three different days and sold jewelry that belonged to Gerald David and Connie Koontz; receiving more than five hundred dollars for the items.
Allen Rowe, the owner of Northern Nevada Coin, says he didn’t know who he was buying from.
“There was nothing that alerted us to being out of the ordinary or different. Unfortunately, we just had to deal with someone who was a monster underneath.”
Rowe adds in the 25 years he’s worked in the industry, he has never been involved in a case like this.
“We are always surprised when this happens because being a legitimate business, it doesn’t happen very often. We get a few stolen items here and there but for the most part the criminals or the bad guys know not to sell it here.”
Rowe tells KOLO 8 News Now that’s because his shop is required to have a paper trail for everything.
“We take I.D. on every item that was brought in, we report it each and every day with leads online to the Sheriff’s Office.”
He says when Martinez-Guzman came, the murder suspect gave them a foreign passport for identification.
“The passport name and the name he presented us with, and the police have as a suspect, are the same name.”
Rowe says taking the items to his shop made a tough case easier for authorities.
Source: https://www.kolotv.com/content/news/EXCLUSIVE-Coin-shop-owner–504792481.html