Loved ones of the two men whose bodies were found in a pickup truck in the Santa Cruz Mountains on March 27 are calling for justice after the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner’s Office released their names and cause of death.
Colter White, 54, and Sean Pfeffer, 45, were both from Boulder Creek. The two friends’ bodies were found at a mountain ridge turnout along Skyline Boulevard.
Nicki Dorris, Pfeffer’s sister, called her younger brother a loving father who was loyal to his friends and family.
“I just want to know what happened,” she said. “I want justice for whoever did this to him.”
April 1 would have been Pfeffer’s 46th birthday.
March 31 would have been White’s 54th birthday.
California Highway Patrol, which is investigating the double homicide, declined to discuss any details of the case, such as suspects, a murder weapon, or where or when the actual killings occurred.
In a March 26 report, the coroner classified the incident as a double homicide.
Pfeffer was killed by a “gunshot wound of the left chest,” while White was killed by “gunshot wounds of torso and left upper and lower extremities,” according to medical examiner records.
A small roadside memorial—with photos, candles and flowers—appeared at the Highway 35 turnout where the truck and bodies were discovered.
Because the crime scene was next to a state route, CHP detectives are investigating the case.
Investigators have released few details about the killings. Information about the victims has been compiled from families, friends, court records, newspaper archives and social media.
The CHP would not comment on the Facebook post or any other aspect of the case.
“The investigation is active and ongoing,” Sgt. Andrew Barclay, a spokesperson for CHP’s Golden Gate Division. “Based on what we know at this time, there doesn’t appear to be any danger to the public.”
Dorris said she is devastated by the sudden loss of the “baby brother” she grew up with in Gilroy.
“I just want to find his killer—or killers,” she said.
Pfeffer’s friend, Colter White, was a local celebrity 16 years ago, gaining fans and publicity for apparently turning his life around following years of run-ins with the law.
Hundreds marched to support his release from the Santa Cruz County Jail in October 2009 where he was serving a month for parole violation. He was freed, and the violation dismissed, thanks in part to letters of recommendation from then-Cabrillo College President Brian King and politician Fred Keeley—now mayor of Santa Cruz—and hundreds of students and faculty.
At the time, he’d spent most of his adult life in trouble with the law, and had been in prison for battery with great bodily injury during a bar fight. In 2004, while serving his 15-year sentence, White earned a GED and started college courses.
After his parole, White lived with relatives in Boulder Creek, worked construction and earned A’s at Cabrillo College. He transferred to Santa Clara University in 2009 and graduated with a communications degree in 2012. Two student filmmakers, SCU classmates, made a 2012 documentary film about White’s turnaround.
But in recent months he was back in trouble with the law. On Jan. 14 he pleaded not guilty to felony grand theft and five enhancements.
Dorris says she’s frustrated with the pace of the investigation.
“I don’t want this to go in the back page of the newspaper,” she said. “There’s a murderer out there.”
