A second suspect has surfaced in the slaying of Heather Gumina, it was learned in a Placerville courtroom this week, with the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office already having charged the dead woman’s husband with her murder.

During the Tuesday arraignment of Anthony Gumina, 44, in Dept. 7 of Superior Court, a matter that had been continued from two weeks prior, the court learned that the DA’s Office has filed an amended complaint “adding a second suspect,” according to prosecuting attorney Lisette Suder.

Suder and defense attorney William Dittmann from the county Public Defender’s Office each told Judge Mark Ralphs more delay is needed in the setting of a preliminary hearing in the case, due to the factual scenario changing virtually daily.

Dittmann said his client would enter a “not guilty” plea to the murder charge and would “waive time” regarding future court matters, meaning his right to face criminal proceedings within Constitutionally-set guidelines (right to a speedy trial) is relinquished due to the complexity of the case

Because it’s going to take time, deputy DA Suder told the court, to make decisions on consolidating this case with another (or more), along with other factors including a second suspect. The prosecutor also requested the services of a Spanish language interpreter for future court proceedings involving that “second suspect.”

Little more was said in court regarding the additional suspect, but the DA’s Office later confirmed that “there is an individual who we believe assisted (Anthony) Gumina ‘after the fact.'” A man named Ruano Ardon Emerson, the DA’s Office added.

Emerson’s name appeared on the same criminal calendar being heard in Dept. 7 on Fair Lane Tuesday, along with a codefendant in what appears to be a marijuana-growing operation. (No further details regarding that case were available at press time.)

Bail for Emerson was set at $1 million in the marijuana-related case, but the 35-year-old also is being held in lieu of an additional $1 million at the county jail, where records indicate he was booked into custody on Sept. 6, by the Sheriff’s Office. The listed, additional charge on the jail log is simply “accessory” with the unusually high bail amount alongside.

Sept. 6 is the same day Anthony Gumina was arrested by law enforcement officers under authority of a warrant charging felony domestic violence, the victim said to be his wife Heather. A second warrant allowing search of specific areas in Pleasant Valley, served simultaneously with the arrest warrant, reportedly uncovered the remains of the 33-year-old woman, who had been reported missing in July.

Charged with five felonies including the suspected murder of his wife, Anthony Gumina has been in custody, ordered held with no possibility of posting bail, since Sept. 6.

The criminal complaint regarding the homicide refers to a possible motive in Heather’s killing, stating she was murdered because she “was a witness to a crime and was intentionally killed to prevent her from testifying in criminal proceedings.”

While this week’s court proceedings were scheduled for purposes of setting a preliminary hearing date, Judge Ralphs was told by deputy DA Suder that more time is needed by her office “to sort out issues.”

“(Law enforcement) reports are still being generated,” said the prosecutor. “More information is being developed every day … there’s a lot more coming …”

Defense attorney Dittmann said he, too, is not ready to proceed with the case, since “I am still expecting discovery from the DA’s Office.”

The deputy public defender added that he is concerned that his office receive any and all of the people’s discovery materials in a timely manner that will allow him to prepare a proper defense.

Judge Ralphs ruled there existed “good cause” to continue the matter, setting the next court appearance for Oct. 22. Ralphs acceded to the prosecution’s request that a Spanish language interpreter be present at that time, ordering the interpreter to join the others in court at 1:30 p.m. that day.

Some half-dozen people filed from the courtroom at the conclusion of Tuesday’s proceedings, with the midsummer disappearance of Heather Gumina from her Pleasant Valley home seeming to strike a chord in the community. Fliers showing the missing blonde’s face smiled at motorists along a half-mile or so of Highway 50 as it passes through Placerville for several weeks, urging the public to help find the mother of three.

Those fliers, taken down a couple days after her husband’s arrest, caused many to speculate on the woman’s fate. Records show multiple domestic violence related incidents between Anthony and Heather Gumina, and it has been reported that she suffered a broken collar bone at his hands — the day before she was reported missing on July 19.