Accused murderer Christopher M. McNatt was supposed to appear in court Thursday to enter a plea, but the appearance has been postponed back to April 9.
The 40-year-old McNatt has been charged with murder in the death of 64-year-old Ronald Gordon Sauvageau, of Cazadero, last Friday, March 20. Sauvageau’s body was found in a plastic barrel that was dumped in front of City Hall shortly before midnight Friday.
McNatt is being held without bail in the county jail on charges of murder, use of a deadly weapon and a prior strike conviction. McNatt was convicted of burglary charges in 1994.
According to the complaint filed by the Sonoma County District Attorney, McNatt used a hammer in the slaying that Sheriff’s officials are saying happened at a residence in the Acacia Grove Mobile Home Park on Highway 12. The residence belongs to Ronnie Arrasmith, who knew both men.
Sgt. Cecile Focha, the Sheriff’s public information officer, said Sonoma police responded to a call of illegal dumping in front of city hall at about 11:48 p.m. Friday. When officers arrived, they found a 55-gallon plastic barrel, covered with a blue tarp, with a body inside.
The victim was later identified as Sauvageau.
Shortly after the body was dumped on the Plaza, a Sheriff’s deputy had stopped McNatt for speeding.
Deputy Alan Collier had pulled over McNatt in a traffic stop before midnight Friday when word went out over the deputy’s police radio about a suspicious 55-gallon barrel found at City Hall.
“The deputy was pretty sharp to put this together,” Lt. Carlos Basurto told the Press Democrat on Monday.
Basurto declined to discuss a motive for the slaying and wouldn’t say what information led the deputy to suspect McNatt could be connected to the barrel.
Thursday, Focha said that because it’s still an ongoing investigation, she couldn’t comment on the motive for the slaying nor why the body was put into a plastic barrel and dumped on the Plaza.
Authorities have not released other details of the slaying, including how or if the two men knew each other, or whether the body had been dismembered.
A Coroner’s Office official said details of the autopsy, which was supposed to take place Tuesday, haven’t been released since it’s an ongoing investigation.
Focha said detectives were out working the investigation all day Wednesday. She didn’t know if drugs or alcohol played any part in the lead-up to the slaying.
“This is a particularly heinous crime,” she said.
Arrasmith told the Press Democrat he was friends with both men, but the two hadn’t met through him. McNatt was staying at Arrasmith’s home Friday night when Sauvageau stopped by unannounced for a visit. Arrasmith’s backyard was littered with broken planter pots, an overturned patio umbrella and a pile of empty soda bottles and beer cans – what Arrasmith said was evidence that “something really bad happened.”
An official from the District Attorney’s said he thought McNatt has a public defender.
Detectives from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Violent Crimes unit are the lead investigators in the homicide case.
‘This is a particularly ?heinous crime.’
- Sgt. Cecile Focha
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