A week before Christmas, the family of a man found dead in a
Gilroy Christmas tree lot is mourning the loss of their son, police
said.
A week before Christmas, the family of a man found dead in a Gilroy Christmas tree lot is mourning the loss of their son, police said.
Richard Oreste Rocchi, Jr., 21, was found Tuesday morning by a worker at the tree lot, which sits just west of the Safeway on First Street. The worker immediately called police, who established a wide perimeter around the crime scene, blocking off the entire tree lot, the adjacent car wash and a large portion of a muddy, empty lot behind the farm. The lot was crisscrossed with footprints and tire tracks and littered with soggy garbage.
Though the coroner would not release the cause of death, the body showed no gunshot or stab wounds, said Sgt. Jim Gillio. But temperatures dipped to near freezing that night, and police said the cold could have factored into his death.
“At this point, nothing points toward a homicide,” said Detective Jason Smith, who is leading the investigation. “There is no evidence of foul play.”
The coroner gave Rocchi’s residence as Morgan Hill, but he has also been known to have lived on the 800 block of El Cerrito Way in north Gilroy. Police have not yet determined what Rocchi was doing near the Safeway, but from varying reports of people he had encountered earlier in the day, Rocchi was intoxicated, police said.
Safeway employees were anxious to find out if Rocchi was the same man they found about 3 a.m. Tuesday morning, drenched and drunk, slumped on one of the tables in front of Safeway. Raul Granados, a Safeway employee, called police after helping Rocchi out of the rain, but Rocchi took off running before police arrived, Granados said.
After police showed them a picture of Rocchi’s body, they identified him as the man who came in early Tuesday morning, police said.
Security cameras at the surrounding businesses may shed some light on the cause of death, Sgt. Jim Gillio said.
Since no one witnessed Rocchi’s death, police are still investigating it as a suspicious death, Gillio said. They are working to retrace Rocchi’s steps over the 48 hours before his death. Police will not be able to close the case until the autopsy is completed and the investigation is finished, Gillio said.
Rocchi was known to police for being in and out of the Gilroy police system, police said. He appeared on The Dispatch’s blotter in April 2006 for burglary and disturbing the peace.
About 10 a.m. Tuesday, Rocchi’s body was laying next to a portable toilet, covered with a yellow tarp. Large muddy puddles had formed after the previous night’s rain. Though police would not confirm, it appeared as if the metal wire fence surrounding the farm had been pushed in and detached from a post near where the body was lying.
“It really shook the boys up this morning,” said Patrick Mooney, the owner of Crystal River Tree Company, an Oregon based company that rents the land near Safeway every holiday season, Tuesday morning.
Though he didn’t call the body in himself, Mooney said one of his employees saw Rocchi laying near the back of the property when he arrived at work.
“He knew instantly what this was,” Mooney said as he waited for police to give him the go ahead to transfer the 120 Christmas trees from the back of his truck to the farm. He had just arrived from the Eugene area to deliver the trees when he was notified of the body.
“Some mother and family out there are going to grieve today,” he said. “It’s a tragedy for the community.”
