October 26, 2009

Arrest Make in Two Suspicious Deaths on 39th Street

On October 24, 2009, the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office notified Sacramento County Sheriff’s Homicide detectives they had determined both of the October 23, 2009, suspicious deaths on 39th Street were homicides. The cause of death is not being released at this time.

Through the course of their investigation, Homicide detectives had developed information that led them to believe 24-year-old Douglas Elmore was responsible for the deaths of the two victims. On October 25, 2009, at 2:00 a.m., Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau detectives traveled to Fairfield, California and arrested Elmore for the murders of the two victims. Detectives believe the bodies, are those of 23-year-old Tammula Robbins and 24-year-old Shawn Cope. Robbins and Cope had been reported missing on October 13, 2009, by Robbins’ mother. The Coroner’s office will positively identify the bodies after the completion of their autopsies.

Elmore was staying at the home on 5704 39th Street at the time of the murders. Detectives believe the murders occurred days before the victims were reported missing. A motive for the murders has not been determined.

On October 23, 2009, at 3:12 p.m., Sheriff’s deputies responded to a field near Mascot Avenue and 32nd Avenue regarding a report that a man (who was not Elmore) had wheeled a garbage can into the field and dumped a body from the can. Deputies arrived and found the badly decomposed body of what appeared to be an adult female. Deputies learned the man wheeled the garbage can from 5704 39th Street, which is a short distance from the field. Deputies went to that address and contacted that man and several other adults who were all questioned by Sheriff’s Homicide detectives.

After obtaining a search warrant, detectives, along with representatives from the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office, and the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Crime Lab, searched a second garbage can located on the same property and discovered a second dead body.

Anyone with additional information about these murders is urged to call Sheriff’s Homicide detectives at (916) 874-5115. After his arrest, Elmore was booked (see booking photo below) into the Sacramento County Main Jail and charged with two counts of murder. He is scheduled to be arraigned on October 27, 2009, at 1:30 p.m., in Department 63.

Sergeant Tim Curran,
Sheriff's Spokesman

Douglas Elmore (1-4-85)