Man Accused in Triple Slaying at Simi Valley Home Is Found Dead

The man accused in a shooting spree that devastated a Simi Valley family apparently turned his gun on himself Friday afternoon as police pursued him through rugged back country about 30 miles north of Ojai.

Reynaldo Herrera Rodriguez, a 35-year-old Caltrans engineer, was found dead near a Los Padres National Forest campground about 5 p.m. with a gunshot wound to the head, Ventura County authorities said. On Friday morning, a forest ranger spotted Rodriguez’s rented blue 2002 Ford Explorer--the same vehicle he is believed to have driven to an ex-girlfriend’s home Wednesday afternoon.

Three of the woman’s family members were shot to death in the house. Two others suffered bullet wounds and one was injured when he jumped from a second-story window to escape.

Told of Rodriguez’s death, the woman, 24-year-old Maria Calderon, expressed a bitter regret.

“I would have much rather he had stayed alive,” she said. “That way he could face the justice system and live with the fact that he murdered three people, and suffer what we’re suffering. Now he took his own life--and he’s not suffering any more.”

Rodriguez’s death followed a manhunt involving a number of agencies throughout Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

Simi Valley police Friday relayed reports that Rodriguez was camping in the Ojai vicinity, officials said. Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to area campgrounds but came up empty until checking on a tip from a U.S. Forest Service ranger.

Rodriguez’s vehicle was found about 2 p.m. at the Reyes Peak campground parking area.

Campers there told deputies that a polite, well-spoken man had borrowed food from them for about two days.

When the man saw deputies arriving Friday, he took off, according to sheriff’s officials.

Helicopter Joined Search Effort

Two campers tracked the man but lost him. Shortly after 3:30 p.m., deputies heard a single gunshot. Later they saw a man slumped behind a rock in an alpine meadow.

Police scanned the terrain from a helicopter and dozens of searchers fanned out through the chaparral, not knowing whether Rodriguez was dead or alive.

They reached his body at about 5 p.m.

The discovery followed three days of shock in Simi Valley, long known as one of the nation’s safest cities.

The shootings followed Rodriguez’s futile attempts to start a serious relationship with Maria Calderon.

When Rodriguez pulled up to her family’s half-million-dollar home in a new subdivision at the city’s eastern end, she wasn’t there.

Methodically walking through the house, Rodriguez allegedly killed Calderon’s grandmother, Esperanza Martinez, 80; Calderon’s brother, Ricardo Calderon, 12, and Calderon’s 4-year-old daughter Shantal Rios. Calderon’s sister, Lucia Vargas, 19, and her brother, Rigoberto Calderon, 16, were wounded. Rafael Calderon Jr., 18, injured his ankle and wrist when he jumped from a bathroom window.

By Friday, funerals had not yet been scheduled.

Family members said they had feared Rodriguez might show up at the services. They also said relatives in the Mexican city of Zamora were still awaiting visas.

In the meantime, family members pondered their tormentor’s last act.

“We only pray that God forgive him for what he did,” said Luis Calderon, Marie’s uncle.

He said Simi Valley police detectives told the family Rodriguez had left suicide notes both at the Simi Valley house and at his own home in Thousand Oaks, which he attempted to burn down hours before the killings. The fire caused only minor damage.

Rodriguez’s only known previous brush with the law was in 1993 when he was convicted of vehicular manslaughter in San Luis Obispo County. Returning from a highway project in Big Sur, Rodriguez was passing a car in front of him when he slammed head-on into a motorcycle driven by Walter Rolsma, the rowing coach at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, according to court records.

Pleading no-contest to a charge of misdemeanor manslaughter, he served no jail time and three years’ probation, according to Jeff Stein, the San Luis Obispo attorney who represented Rodriguez.

No drugs or alcohol were involved in the accident, Stein said.

“He struck me as a thoughtful, caring, decent, sensitive sort of guy,” Stein added. “I think it was tremendously hurtful for him that he’d been involved in a circumstance that led to someone else’s death. This was someone who felt the pain deeply.”

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Times staff writers Jenifer Ragland, David Kelly, Tina Dirmann and Margaret Talev contributed to this story.