SILVERDALE — Andrew P. Gilbert, 23, of Silverdale told detectives that he was afraid of Hector “Ricky” Apodaca, thought he was talking in code on his cellphone to someone interested in the BMW they were driving on a Seabeck road late Feb. 18.
So when Apodaca got out of the car and told Gilbert to let him drive, he thought he was going to be carjacked, according to the investigators’ certificate of probable cause. And so he shot Apodaca twice and left his body on the road, where it was found by a passerby.
Gilbert was booked into Kitsap County Jail and his bail set at $1 million. He is charged with first-degree murder. He goes to Superior Court on 1:30 p.m. March 10 for an omnibus, or pretrial, hearing.
His girlfriend, Hope Jones Calhoun, 20, of Kingston was arrested and booked on suspicion on first-degree rendering assistance; she allegedly tried to conceal and dispose of evidence. Her bail is set at $100,000.
The sheriff’s department reported it made the arrests “with the help of the community coming forward with information related to this homicide.”Detectives served a search warrant on Huntley Place in Silverdale, and the suspect was arrested without incident, the department reported. Detectives were able to locate evidence related to the murder, the sheriff’s department reported.
Apodaca, 30, of Bremerton was found in the road late Feb. 18 on the 9300 block of Misery Point Road NW. A passerby saw the body and called 9-1-1, Detective Lt. Earl Smith said. Patrol deputies and Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue personnel went to the scene; CKF&R personnel tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate Apodaca and pronounced him dead at the scene, Smith said.
That stretch of Misery Point Road is rural residential, with homes separated from the road by large lawns or swaths of forest. Nearby is Scenic Beach State Park.
Apodaca is the fifth homicide victim in Seabeck in less than a month. The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Department and two federal agencies are still investigating the Jan. 27 deaths of John D. Careaga; his wife, Christale L. Careaga, her 16-year-old son, Johnathon F. Higgins; and Careaga’s 16-year-old stepson from a previous marriage, Hunter E. Schaap.
Christale Careaga and the 16-year-olds were found murdered in the family home, 13417 Tenino Drive, which had been set on fire. John Careaga’s body was found two days later in his pickup truck at a Mason County tree farm; the truck had also been set on fire.
Investigators have repeatedly said they don’t believe the Jan. 27 killings were random, that John D. Careaga was the target, and that the public is not in danger.
Apodaca’s body was found near Scenic Beach State Park, 7.5 miles north of the Careaga home. But Smith said “detectives do not believe this investigation is related to the quadruple homicide in January.”
