NEWMAN (CBS13) – Authorities have arrested two people in Stanislaus County in connection with the murder of a California man at a hotel in Oregon, the Grants Pass Department of Public Safety has announced.
Just after 11 a.m. on Jan. 5, 42-year-old Ryan Antone Dutra, from California, was found unconscious with a single gunshot wound to the floor of a hotel room he rented at a Red Lion Inn in Josephine County. Oregon, law enforcement said. He was discovered by a hotel employee. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Derek and Tera Smith
Through video surveillance, cell phone technology and license plate readers, authorities said they had identified the suspects in the murder of Dutra as 41-year-old Derek Ian Smith and his wife, 34-year-old Tera Lindsey Smith. According to law enforcement, the two were probably already back in California at the point where they were identified.
The California Highway Patrol in Sacramento, the San Luis Obispo police station and the sheriff of Stanislaus County all assisted with the investigation.
At about 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 6, the Smiths were located on Interstate 5 in the town of Newman in Stanislaus Province and arrested without incident, authorities said.
Both face charges of murder, robbery and unlawful use of a firearm.
More from CBS Sacramento: