23-year-old Khadijah Britton of Covelo was kidnapped at gunpoint two years ago. She hasn’t been seen since.
Even though the Sheriff’s Department has collected hundreds of tips from the community and put in thousands of man hours investigating the case, it hasn’t yet yielded anything solid.
Part of the problem, according to Sheriff Matt Kendall, is that people in Covelo who may have information about what happened to Khadijah have been afraid to come forward.
But in the last two weeks there have been some new developments.
The prime suspect in Khadijah Britton’s disappearance is her former boyfriend Negie Fallis, 39 of Covelo.
Fallis was recently released from San Quentin prison, where he had served out his sentence on weapons violations and was back in Covelo.
But on Feb. 25th, Fallis was picked up by Sheriff’s deputies for violating parole and is now in custody in the Mendocino County Jail.
Then on March 4, a known associate of Negie Fallis, named Louis Oliver, 33 of Covelo, was federally indicted on weapons charges and is now in federal prison.
The sheriff’s office told KZYX last week that it is changing the investigative strategy from one of focused primarily on gathering information, to prosecuting and targeting people with ties to the case who are suspected of being cartel-type drug enforcers and selling firearms.
Sheriff Kendall said the strategy is two fold: to remove intimidating suspects, and to encourage people who have previously felt afraid to come forward with information about what happened to Khadijah.
The Mendocino County Sheriff’s department has set up an anonymous tip line through We Tip at 1-800-732-7463