Reported by: Victoria Campbell
Email: vcampbell@mynews4.com
San Jose, CA--Police have taken drastic action in an effort to solve the latest murder involving the Hells Angels motorcycle gang: They have exhumed the casket of Jeffrey "Jethro" Pettigrew in hopes of finding evidence that may have been thrown into the gravesite before Pettigrew was laid to rest.
Pettigrew was gunned down at the Nugget in Sparks during Street Vibrations. Four thousand fellow bikers attended his funeral last weekend at Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose. There, another high-ranking Hells Angel-- Steven Tausan-- was killed during a fight with yet another member of the gang. But by the time police were able to get to the scene, officers say members of the Hells Angels had destroyed or removed evidence of the shooting, and were refusing to cooperate with the investigation.
So officers decided to exhume Pettigrew's casket from his grave in an effort to see whether any evidence-- like shell casings-- had been tossed into his grave, or even if the body of the suspected shooter-- Steve Ruiz-- had been put into the grave along with the casket.
Police say no one has had contact with Ruiz since the shooting, and they suspect he may already be dead.
Pettigrew was gunned down at the Nugget in Sparks during Street Vibrations. Four thousand fellow bikers attended his funeral last weekend at Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose. There, another high-ranking Hells Angel-- Steven Tausan-- was killed during a fight with yet another member of the gang. But by the time police were able to get to the scene, officers say members of the Hells Angels had destroyed or removed evidence of the shooting, and were refusing to cooperate with the investigation.
So officers decided to exhume Pettigrew's casket from his grave in an effort to see whether any evidence-- like shell casings-- had been tossed into his grave, or even if the body of the suspected shooter-- Steve Ruiz-- had been put into the grave along with the casket.
Police say no one has had contact with Ruiz since the shooting, and they suspect he may already be dead.
