CA CA - Dr Robert Stonebreaker, 53, Rancho Santa Fe, 16 Jan 2010

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Computers and phone records have been checked, but information hasn't been released since. It obviously hasn't led to an arrest, but I don't know if there was any useful information. Every detail of his life has been analyzed, speculated and discussed, but new information/leads haven't been released. Someone has to know something, and it is up to them to speak up.


Robert and his wife had three children. Sheriff's Lt. Dennis Brugos asks that anyone with information call his office at (858) 974-2321
 
lafeeverte said:
Computers and phone records have been checked, but information hasn't been released since. It obviously hasn't led to an arrest, but I don't know if there was any useful information. Every detail of his life has been analyzed, speculated and discussed, but new information/leads haven't been released. Someone has to know something, and it is up to them to speak up.


Robert and his wife had three children. Sheriff's Lt. Dennis Brugos asks that anyone with information call his office at (858) 974-2321
Click to expand...

So sad for his family. Thanks for keeping us updated about this case, lafeeverte....I'm curious to see if any new leads develop.
 
Did he still have his wallet with him?
And car keys? In his possession?
Was the vehicle a convertible or hardtop?
​

No sign of theft?
It would help if they would release the photos of the car taken after CSI arrived on the scene. No way of knowing if he was wearing a seat-belt or not, since he left the vehicle.

It looks like he made a hard left from the right lane as seen from the skid marks.
I am assuming he slammed on the brakes during the hard turn to the left to avoid hitting someone or something thing that was in the road, but just speculating.

If he was hit from behind, there would be damage to the rear end.
That is why i want to see the photos of the actual crash scene.

I don't see where releasing those photos would be a problem.

I am doubting the road rage theory.
If it was, and they wanted him dead, they could have stopped, and attacked him again while he was still inside or near the vehicle.
​
 
Yes, but it could also make sense that he was being followed, was driving fast and made a hard, fast turn but missed the road (there are no street lights) while trying to lose whoever was following him. The follower would have then had to turn around and see Robert was still alive. Robert could have then seen the follower and took off running. He could have been being chased, which would make sense why he chose to jump a gate instead of going to the property next door that was not gated. I don't think road rage would have had someone turn around, go down an embankment, chase someone almost a half mile, and jump a fence, then kill him. Supposedly, there was no rear crash, but the bumper and license plate were left at the scene when the cops towed his car away the night before he was found.
 
...
Until any links are provided that will lead to any official LE documents on this case all we can do is speculate and make assumptions on what may have occurred.

And until those documents are released it is my theory based on speculation from what i have seen and read, that this was nothing more then a horrible accident.
Something appeared to him in his lane, and he made that hard left turn to avoid hitting it. Upon impact which was hard and brutal, and traveling around 40 or 50 miles a hour, he blacked out upon impact and was ejected from the vehicle like a limp rag doll. After awhile, he regained consciousness and went to seek help for himself, and got as far as he did and died where he was found.

The comment by LE that the injuries he received were inconsistent with an automobile accident such as his, which had them speculate that he may have been murdered, could be explained by him being ejected from the vehicle. If he had remained in the vehicle, then his injuries would have been more consistent with his/this type of accident.

From the first post.
The medical examiner reported that his injuries were not consistent with those of a car accident, or from falling afterward. San Diego County Sheriff's Lt. Dennis Brugos said Stonebreaker was likely killed at the scene where his body was found and that he died of blunt force trauma.
If he was ejected on impact, that would explain why his injuries were not consistent with those of a car accident, and also why no blood or little there of, was found inside the vehicle.

I also speculate that when they did find the car, the drivers door was closed, and the keys were still in the ignition.
If his wallet was not found on him, or in the vehicle another search of the area may enable one to find it including his cell phone.

THE ABOVE ALL MOO AND SPECULATION ON MY PART.
NOTHING POSTED AS FACT UNLESS OTHERWISE KNOWN TO BE.
​



​
 
Two thousand feet seems an awfully long distance to run after being ejected from a car with a bleeding head injury, but I'm sure it's possible. Head injuries tend to bleed profusely, so I'd think there would have been a trail of blood leading up to the driveway. I'm assuming there was none which lead LE to believe he was murdered where his body lay.

I'm unclear about where his car was found in relation to the location of his body. Was the car west or east of the body? If west, it looks like there are other houses even closer to the road where he could have sought help. Why did he run so far?

Besides the possibility of an extreme road rage incident, I'm wondering if somewhere along his drive he witnessed a crime. Sure is an interesting case. Wish we had more details.
 
lafeeverte said:
On Saturday evening (January 16th 2010), around 9:30pm on Paseo Delicias in Rancho Santa Fe, CA a silver 2008 Porsche Carrera belonging to Robert Stonebreaker, a San Diego Veterinarian, was discovered. It was crashed, next to the road down a 15-foot embankment. Evidence at the scene suggested that the vehicle had been involved in a single car crash. As such, this case was initially investigated as a traffic collision by the California Highway Patrol (CHP). Officials with the CHP said that when they arrived, the driver was missing and that there was no blood apparent at the scene.

Robert was found dead the following morning in the driveway of a home about 2,000 feet away. A significant amount of blood was on the driveway. He would have had to jump a fence (or have been let in by the owners) to end up there. The home where he was found (6792 Paseo Delicias Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067) was/is owned by T. Michael Reed, retired personal injury lawyer/consumer attorney. He told officers that he recognized Robert Stonebreaker because he had used his veterinary services in the past and had also kept a newspaper article about him.

The medical examiner reported that his injuries were not consistent with those of a car accident, or from falling afterward. San Diego County Sheriff's Lt. Dennis Brugos said Stonebreaker was likely killed at the scene where his body was found and that he died of blunt force trauma.
Click to expand...
respectfully snipped

Is the "fence" the low brick wall near the road at the end of the driveway? I'm assuming then that there is a gate that crosses it. Don't see that in photos, though.
 
Bessie is right, the injury he had would have left a blood trail, and if he had sustained it at the time of the accident, he would not have been able to travel almost a half mile and jump a fence losing that much blood. He would have been dead much closer to the car. His car fell down an embankment, that was the impact so he could not have been flung from the car and ended up far from it, he would have been in the embankment regardless. His car was to the west of the house. There is also a non-gated house right next door. The house he was found at has a fence around it (not the short cement wall leading up the driveway to the two houses). If you enter the address in Google maps you will see the green arrow points to a long driveway that leads up to two different houses. The house he was found at is on the left (West). His car plunged into the embankment where the main road and Caminto de Conejos meet. I speculate that instead of climbing back up the 15 foot embankment, he was chased through the vegetation to the North which is where the 6792 house is. It is also interesting that no one knew where he was going. Other than residences, there is a plant nursery and golf club (he was not known to have attended) that he could have been heading to. If I was going to pick up plants, I would not take my Porsche, but it is possible since he created habitats for birds and other animals. If he was going to someone's house, surely they would have spoken up after his murder and said he was on his way to their house. That is, unless they had something to do with it.
 
Thanks, Lafeeverte. After my last post, I found an article that said the accident occurred near Camenito de Canejos, and I googled over the area. The access road to the house seems to be about 800 ft. long. From the entrance to the road and Camenito de Canejos is about 150 ft. So now I'm wondering why it was reported that he traveled 2000 ft from his car. :waitasec:
Authorities believe Stonebreaker had been traveling north Saturday about 9:30 p.m. on Paseo Delicias near Caminito de Canejos in a silver 2008 Porsche Carrera when he lost control on a curve, over-corrected twice and then veered off the road. The car reportedly ran over a wooden marker on the side of the road and plunged into a gully filled with vegetation about 10 to 15 feet deep.
Click to expand...
http://www.examiner.com/news-in-san...ian-s-death-more-than-just-a-traffic-accident

I've read quite a few articles and the comments following them. (Not much else to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon when the Saints are playing a miserable game. :crazy:) Most of the commenters are incredulous, can't believe it could be anything but an accident. One did mention a lawsuit Dr. Stonebreaker filed against a large corporation in 2004. So now that has me curious. It's the last comment following this article:

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loc...rue-WhoDunit--82188627.html?__source=Facebook

My initial gut feeling is that he wasn't chased all the way up that driveway and then hit on the head after he crossed the fence. If a dead body is found on private property behind a closed gate, and LE thinks it was foul play, well, you have to at least consider that the owner of the house or a resident is involved. I'd like to know who lives at the house besides the lawyer. Any live in housekeepers or caretakers? And what was the subject of the news article the lawyer kept? I'm not pointing fingers. Just asking logical questions.
 
"Investigators said Stonebreaker crashed his car down an embankment Saturday night, then made his way to a home about 2,000 feet away." (http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=11837520)

"Officers initially believed Stonebreaker got out of the car after the solo wreck and made his way up a long driveway about 2,000 feet to the home,"
(http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/19/veterinarians-death-ruled-suspicious/)

"Officers believe Stonebreaker got out of the car and made his way up a long driveway about 2,000 feet to the home"
(http://injury.thegomezfirm.com/blog/category/recent-news/page/25/)

Whenever it is quoting officers, it says 2,000 feet, although when I look on google maps it looks more like 800. Either way, it was too far to have had that head injury from the accident and not have a blood trail or not have bled out by the time he got to where he was. The medical examiner said the injury was "of a traumatic nature".

The lawsuit against Banfield for the unreadable microchips was filed in 2004, it is definitely another aspect to consider. It still doesn't answer where he was going that night, after rethinking my last post and other theories, he could not have been going to the nursery at 9:30pm. And I just looked on their website, and they are only open until 4:30pm. I truly believe he was going to a residence.
 
Freeflight, the bird sanctuary was granted non profit status in January. This article appeared in the DelMar Times just a couple of days before Stonebreaker's death. Apparently, the sanctuary had become a financial burden on the hospital, thus the move to go non profit. Doesn't seem irregular, but the timing's interesting. I wonder if this is the article the homeowner referenced.



"Free Flight has sort of become a wayward sanctuary for birds, and it was all supported by the pet hospital," said Stonebreaker, 53, who earned his doctor of veterinary medicine from UC Davis. "And that's been a big problem, doing this for quite a number of years. Now, with the way the economy is, it's really taken a toll on me.

"We just receive our nonprofit status, and that was quite an accomplishment," Stonebreaker said, referring to the sanctuary. "Nonprofit status is allowing the board to take over (the sanctuary) and make decisions rather than me. Hopefully it will be self-sustaining and the vet hospital won't have to be paying all the salaries and overhead that goes along with that.

"It is on the property, and we're hoping that once it can fly," Stonebreaker said, with no pun intended, "then they'll in turn be able to pay back some (of the money) and pay rent to the hospital."
Click to expand...

http://www.delmartimes.net/news/264777-sanctuary-takes-wing-with-new-status

Reporters can get things so bassackwards sometimes. It's quite possible the homeowner mentioned that he recognized Stonebreaker because had used his services, and just three days prior had seen his photo in the newspaper which hadn't been discarded yet. That could've easily been twisted into the report that the lawyer retained a news article about the vet.

I still find it strange that he was inside that gate. Don't those gates usually have intercom systems to alert the owner someone is trying to get in? If Stonebreaker needed assistance, wouldn't he have hit the buzzer? Unless someone was so hot on his heels that he didn't have time.
 
That was my initial belief, that the attorney was referring to the Free Flight article. It was actually a great success to go non profit.

It looks to me that the gate had a buzzer/ intercom. The theory that he spooked the attorney doesn't make sense with this in mind. He would have had to jump the fence if he didn't ring the buzzer, and why would he do that if there was another house right next to it without a gate. It makes more sense that he was being chased and jumped the fence to try to get away.
 
The two house are nestled far back from Paseo Delicias on that road, and the road curves at about the halfway point. Until he reached the curve, I doubt he could have seen the houses. There is another house to the right much closer to the highway. The back of it faces the small road past a grove of small trees. It would've been immediately visible, and from what I can tell, there is no fence, or just a small fence, blocking the property from the road. In his shoes, I would've approached that house. It would've been the first one visible and is fairly accessible.
 
I guess it also depends on which route he chose to go through the vegetation, but I think this observation is consistent with him being chased.
 
By the way, Lafeeverte, welcome to Websleuths, and thanks for bringing this very interesting case to our attention.

I take it you're a local (the mention of the nurseries). Are you aware of any other possible angles that haven't been mentioned which we should consider? Also, do you know when he was said to have been last seen?

I did read a comment that said he was known to NOT carry his cell phone with him. If true, that would explain why he was walked away from the car rather than place a call for help.
 
I think the most important question is

Who was he going to see that night?

He had to have been going to a residence, maybe he met up with someone, they decided to go back to this other person's house and he was set up, ran off the road and killed.. but what is the motive? It wasn't robbery.
 
Thank you for the welcome, and thank you for your input. I think he was last seen that mid-afternoon. He was known not to have his cell on him, but even if he did have it, it could have been jolted in the wreck and he may not have been able to access it. Also reception is spotty in the area.
Every aspect of his personal life has been analyzed, but other than the possibilities we have been discussing, everything else has been rumors or grasping at straws. My gut tells me someone in that neighborhood knows what happened.
 
Let's say he was at someone's house. Why wasn't he killed there? Why the chase?

Or, something bad went down at the house, so he jumped in the car to get away, maybe call LE. The person chased him down and killed him so he couldn't talk, like I mentioned in my first post.

I'd love to know the motive, but other than the Banfield suit, I haven't come up with anything. Nothing from LE, and nothing in the comments that I've seen yet. I'm not done looking, though. :)
 
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