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Man whose skull was found in Bay Area residential garden died from suicide using guillotine

4 mins read

An improvised guillotine has caused the death of a man whose skull was found in Santa Rosa residence bushes in March, San Francisco Chronicle said, citing a report from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

The man was said to be a Hendley Street, Luther Burbank neighborhood resident, who was named as Robert Enger. The victim seemed to have improvised a guillotine but has used a huge metal spike instead of a sharp blade.

After killing himself, he was reportedly beheaded by a new homeowner, Robert Melvin Ross III, who moved in.

The Press Democrat said Ross pleaded no contest to the felony charge of keeping human remains relic.

“There is a lot of methamphetamine use involved in this story,” said Sonoma County Deputy District Attorney Matthew Hubley who talked to the Press Democrat. Hubley referred to what had transpired in the victim’s residence after the suicide incident.

In March, the Santa Rosa Police received a report from a woman, claiming that she discovered a skull in the garden of his brother.

The skull was located by the police who responded to the scene. On it were scrape marks, a couple of holes, and a wire attached to it.

Through an investigation, it was found to belong to Enger and seemed to have been used by persons involved in the methamphetamine trade. The Press Democrat said police then found the makeshift guillotine and the victim’s headless body.

The victim’s last appearance was on July 2, 2019 when he came to a neighbor’s home with his head wound bleeding. The then 62-year-old Enger was brought to the hospital for treatment.

His injuries from that incident were believed to have been caused by a 20-foot-tall guillotine which he used for a suicide try, police said.

Enger then disappeared and left his home vacant. Squatters then moved in and had parties that were noticed by the police. The house was then locked up by the authorities after proving that squatters have been using the area.

The Press Democrat further reported that a contraption, which was identified as a crude guillotine afterward, was found during the inspection.

A suspect involved in another crime in March admitted that they were presented with human remains during a party at Enger’s residence. The Press Democrat said he witnessed Ross beheading the dead victim.

Ross then described the events in Enger’s home when in his interview for a separate crime.

“He gives us a description of the guillotine and how he’d found the body at the bottom of the contraption,” according to Turner who spoke with the Press Democrat. “It was Ross who actually described the mechanism and how the body was impaled on this guillotine.”

The police examined the skull and discovered injuries that matched the sharpened bolt on the guillotine’s end.

“Robert Enger placed himself under that contraption, manipulated it, was killed, and then his body was manipulated later by Robert Ross and others,” Turner said, according to the Press Democrat story.

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