Nathan Solis

Record Searchlight

Update Thursday, 8:21 p.m.

Deputies arrested a suspect, Juan Manuel Venegas, 39, of Redding, on Thursday afternoon, according to the Shasta County Sheriff's Office.

Venegas was arrested at his home on Telecaster Lane in west Redding after he was seen by detectives driving a blue Toyota truck. Detectives served a search warrant and booked him into the Shasta County Jail for murder on Thursday.

Original story

It has been five weeks since a Shell gas station clerk in eastern Shasta County was set on fire and killed while he was behind the register at his job.

David Wicks, 54, was a likable fixture at the gas station in Johnson Park, but questions hang over the small community in eastern Shasta County on the outskirts of Burney.

Why was Wicks set on fire that night by a person dressed in a yellow rain jacket, black hoodie and gloves on Dec. 21 just before 7 p.m.? A still image of the attacker was released by the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office from surveillance footage at the gas station.

The gas station remains closed, according to store owner Devinder Sahota.

“We want to give the community and employees time to cope with the event,” Sahota said.

Wicks' wife, Sonja Wicks, also works at the gas station as a manager. Sahota said repairs need to be made inside the store, but the layout might be changed in the future.

“So the horrible memories of it are not there anymore,” Sahota said. "It's a small community and the employees of the store are like family."

A memorial service will be held for Wicks at Burney High School on Saturday at 2 p.m.

The community remains on edge, said Jennifer Luck, office manager with the Burney Chamber of Commerce.

“This is a small community and it’s the type of place where people go into the local supermarkets and talk to each other about topics,” Luck said.

“If you stopped to get gas in town you knew him,” Luck said of Wicks.

Shasta County Sheriff’s investigators say leads to Wicks’ killer are still being pursued and a number of witnesses were interviewed in the days after the murder.

“The case hasn’t gone cold,” Lt. Troy Clegg with the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office said on Wednesday.

No arrests have been made.

Crickett McNealy manages the Lamplighter Mobile Village down the street from the Shell gas station and spoke with Wicks on a regular basis.

“He was a good Christian man,” McNealy said. “He joked with everyone and was just a good human being.”

The fact that such a small community would not know who committed such a crime baffles McNealy and she is surprised no one has come forward with more information about the attacker's identity.

Clegg with the Sheriff’s Office shares the same sentiment.

“I was expecting more tips to be called in,” Clegg said. “We evaluate every tip and if it’s an emergency we respond, even the anonymous tips.”

Clegg encourages residents in the area to call the Sheriff’s Office with any information on the case.

Wicks and his wife, Sonja Wicks, were Jehovah’s Witnesses in Johnson Park, according to an obituary written by his friends.

He met his wife in 2001 while playing in a band at a club in Burney. They married in 2002 and were baptized as Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2006. He preached to his neighbors and met with strangers as part of ministry work that was a large part of his life.

The Jehovah’s Witness congregation meets off Highway 299 in Johnson Park, down the street from where Wicks worked.

He is survived his mother, Karen Deriso, sons Justin and David Wicks, daughter Megan Wicks, stepdaughter, Yvonne Hand, and grandchildren.