Third suspect arrested in cold case killings

SANDPOINT — A third person has been arrested in connection with a double homicide in California that has ensnared a Cocolalla man.

The Barstow Police Department announced Tuesday the arrest of Steven Dondero, a 37-year-old Orange, Calif., resident.

Dondero is the nephew of James Linzy Franklin, who is accused of killing Mark Adamson and Joseph Riley in San Bernardino County, Calif., in 1995.

Franklin’s codefendant in the homicides is Christian Leonard Bunty Sr., a Cocolalla businessman who was arrested last year and extradited to California to face charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and second-degree murder.

Franklin, 42, is already serving a life sentence for an unrelated homicide in Big Bear, Calif.

Barstow Police investigators contend the two victims were planning to buy ephedrine from Bunty and Franklin, but were instead robbed of the buy money and killed. Ephedrine is an ingredient to manufacture methamphetamine.

Investigators allege that Franklin and Bunty were part of a crew that posed as law officers and robbed drug houses in the Los Angeles area in the 1990s.

Barstow Police did not disclose how Dondero became implicated the alleged killings. He would have been in his late teens at the time of the crimes.

A warrant was issued for Dondero’s arrest on Nov. 8 and executed on Nov. 25 in Long Beach, Calif.

Dondero is being held at the San Bernardino County Sheriff Department’s West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, according to Barstow officials. Franklin is currently being held at the same facility, according to the sheriff’s website.

Bunty, 41, remains jailed at a San Bernardino Sheriff Department’s Adelanto Detention Center. He has three hearings this month, including one on a motion to dismiss the case against him, according to superior court records.

Barstow investigators allege that Bunty relocated to Idaho following the killings.

Bunty’s friends and family vigorously dispute his involvement in the slayings and insist he is being railroaded by authorities in California.

Barstow Police officials said the investigation is ongoing and those with information are urged to call (760) 256-2211. Callers who wish to remain anonymous can call the WE TIP hotline at (800)-78-CRIME.