Deputy Slain Staging Robbery Is Buried With Honors

More than three months after staging an armed robbery during which he was shot and killed by a fellow deputy, Michael Stanewich was finally buried with military honors Friday at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery.

Stanewich, a 36-year-old narcotics investigator and 10-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department, was shot July 3 as he attempted to rob an Olivenhain home where, as an officer acting in official capacity, he had served a search warrant only a few weeks before.

Since the shooting, the officer’s body had been kept by a local funeral home pending family plans and an investigation by the Sheriff’s Department.

Friday’s ceremony included a 21-gun salute for Stanewich, who served in the Navy for seven years. No sheriff’s deputies were on hand.

“There was no burial sponsored by the Sheriff’s Department,” said an officer who answered the phone at the department’s public affairs office. “It was apparently a burial by the family.”

Meanwhile, sheriff’s deputies investigating the break-in say they might be able to conclude their probe by the end of the month.

But some vital questions, such as the existence of a second suspect, possibly another sheriff’s deputy, might never be answered.

“It’s not very likely (there was a second suspect),” said Sgt. Manny Castillo, who is active in the investigation. “There can always be a shred of new evidence to turn up that could lead us in a totally new direction. But so far that hasn’t happened.”