OROVILLE — A dump truck driver who killed two people in a four-vehicle crash on Highway 99 south of Chico in 2019 learned Wednesday he’ll spend the next 10 years in state prison.
Thomas Fairhurst, 59, of Antioch, was driving a 26,000-pound dump truck north on Highway 99 when he rammed a subcompact car stopped at a red light at the intersection with Neal Road June 21, 2019, according to a news release from the Butte County District Attorney’s Office. Donald Shippen, 53, and Apryl Shippen, 56, both of Chico, were inside the Chevrolet Aveo when Fairhurst’s truck struck them as it was moving at 55 mph.
Investigators found no evidence Fairhurst attempted to brake prior to making impact, according to the release.
Fairhurst’s truck pushed the Chevrolet into a Toyota sport-utility vehicle that was also stopped at the red light, according to the release. The impact pushed the Toyota, in turn, under a semitrailer stopped in front of the Toyota. The Chevrolet and Toyota sustained extensive damage.
Three occupants of the Toyota suffered major injuries, as did the Shippens’ adult son, who was driving the Chevrolet, according to the release. Fairhurst and the driver of the semitrailer were not injured.
Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said an investigation by the California Highway Patrol Major Accident Investigation Team revealed Fairhurst had engaged in late-night partying and activities in the days prior to the collision, while he was working long days in the Paradise area.
Investigators concluded Fairhurst did not obtain the amount of sleep needed to operate his commercial vehicle safely and attentively, and that he fell asleep as he approached the busy Neal Road intersection, according to the release.
Ramsey said Fairhurst’s case was one of many serious cases on the Butte County court docket that were delayed repeatedly during the COVID pandemic.
Fairhurst initially pleaded guilty Feb. 15 to two counts of felony vehicular manslaughter, but he failed to appear at his sentencing hearing April 20, according to the release. A warrant was issued for his arrest. Ramsey stated his office filed an additional charge for failing to appear.
Cold-case killer pleads no contest
A Magalia man and suspected cold-case killer admitted in Butte County Superior Court to murdering a woman in 2017.
Dustin Troy Kimball, 49, pleaded no contest Wednesday to a single count of murder for the homicide of Jennifer Coleen Moore, according to a news release from the Butte County District Attorney’s Office.
Ramsey said Moore was reported missing to the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office June 20, 2017. Friends and family had last seen her a day earlier when she left her Orland home with Kimball, her boyfriend. Moore left her special-needs son at home with her roommate while she went with Kimball to purchase a car for herself, but never returned.
The Glenn County Sheriff’s Office investigated the missing person report, but detectives could not find Moore during the investigation and the case “went cold” for the next three and a half years, according to the release.
Ramsey said the Butte County Sheriff’s Office responded to a Jan. 10, 2021, call regarding human remains found in a rural area near Forest Ranch, off Highway 32. Forensic anthropologists from Chico State evaluated the remains, ultimately determining them to be Moore’s.
Ramsey said that at Wednesday’s preliminary hearing that the evidence established Kimball was the last person to be seen with Moore June 19, 2017. After he picked her up from her home, he drove her to the Chico Walmart, which was the last location they were seen together on store surveillance.
Evidence of Kimball’s internet search history revealed that less than an hour before picking up Moore from her home, he was searching topics related to “jugular vein” and “how to cut a jugular vein,” according to the release.
Kimball’s cellular location data revealed that after leaving the Chico Walmart that evening, he spent an hour at the exact area where Moore’s remains would later be found, according to the release. The data also showed Kimball returned to that site the following day.
Kimball’s sentencing is set for Jan. 31, 2024. As a result of the plea, Kimball faces a sentence of 15 years to life in state prison. He is currently being held with no bail in the Butte County Jail pending sentencing.
Jury returns quick guilty verdict
After listening to seven days of testimony, a Butte County jury took only three hours Thursday to find a Las Vegas man guilty of a murder he committed in Forest Ranch in 2019.
The jury found Robert Anderson, 30, guilty of the bludgeoning death of Gunther “Gunny” Rupprecht, 30, of Forest Ranch, in addition to charges of possession of cocaine for sale and transportation of cocaine, according to a news release from the Butte County District Attorney’s Office.
Ramsey said evidence revealed Anderson had been partying at a friend’s house in Chico along with Rupprecht. Anderson had brought cocaine to the party and was bragging about his drug dealing, according to the release. When the party ran out of cocaine, Anderson got a ride to where he was staying in Chico to pick up another 47 grams of cocaine along with $1,100 in cash.
As the party wound down, Rupprecht invited Anderson to stay at Rupprecht’s Forest Ranch house, according to the release.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office was called out the next morning, Aug. 27, 2019, to an extremely bloody scene at Rupprecht’s property, according to the release. Rupprecht was discovered dead with 40-50 slashes and gouges to his body, along with massive blunt-force trauma that shattered his skull.
Anderson had attacked Rupprecht with a snow shovel, a butcher knife, a PVC pipe and a massive rock, along with punches, elbows and kicks, according to the release.
Ramsey said Anderson fled the scene, covered in blood, to the neighbors and had offered them money to take him to Chico. The neighbors took Anderson to a local market to call law enforcement officers, who arrived and arrested him.
Anderson testified to the jury that Rupprecht attacked him and hit him in the back of the head for no reason while at the Forest Ranch home, according to the release. Anderson said he then blacked out and defended himself, but could not remember how he did so. The evidence showed no injuries to Anderson when he was arrested.
Anderson is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 17, 2024, when he faces 15 years to life in state prison on the murder charge, as well as five years on the cocaine charges.
Deputies use tear gas on man
A Palermo resident contacted Butte County Sheriff’s Office dispatchers Thursday to report a shooting in the 6000 block of Upper Palermo Road. Deputies and detectives arrived and say they found evidence indicating Palermo resident Phillip Moret, 62, had fired a gun, according to a news release from the Butte County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies and detectives determined Moret had an arrest warrant for a felony count of assault with a deadly weapon, and a misdemeanor count of vandalism, according to the release. Deputies obtained information that Moret was possibly armed with firearms and was not likely to surrender peacefully. They used a loudspeaker to communicate with Moret from outside the residence; Moret refused to exit the residence.
Members of the Butte County Sheriff’s Office SWAT and hostage negotiation teams went to Moret’s residence with great caution, believing Moret was armed, according to the release.
Detectives obtained a warrant to search Moret’s residence, according to the release. Hostage Negotiation members used a loudspeaker to address Moret from outside for approximately four hours, though Moret continued to refuse to exit the residence.
After four hours had passed, the SWAT team deployed tear gas into the residence, according to the release. Sheriff’s authorities believed this was necessary, as an entry into the residence to search for Moret without first deploying gas would have been extremely dangerous for the deputies. The gas strategy worked; Moret exited the residence and was placed under arrest without incident.
