Two Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office employees are dead after an apparent murder-suicide. Police say it happened on Sunday night, starting at an apartment in Santa Rosa.
Detectives believe off-duty deputy Jeremy Lyle shot and killed his former partner, Mari Bonnici, a detention specialist. He shot himself in the bed of his pickup truck on Monday morning, in the parking lot of the Sonoma County Coroner’s Office in Fountaingrove. That was after a nearly five-hour standoff involving Santa Rosa SWAT officers and hostage negotiators trying to convince him to surrender.
Lyle and Bonnici had three young children, none of whom were hurt. Court records show two Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office employees were in a custody dispute before dying in a murder-suicide earlier this week. Jeremy Lyle and Mari Bonnici were once in a relationship but were separated. On June 10th, Bonnici filed to end their domestic partnership, which lasted between April and November of 2024. She requested legal and physical custody of their three young children. She also requested for Lyle to have visitation, but no overnights, arguing that would be safer for the kids.
And, she claimed Lyle had a history of committing abuse. Police confirm there were no prior domestic violence reports involving either of them.
