Husband stabbed, wife shot dead, boyfriend booked in Santa Cruz Mountains battle

APTOS — There were few belongings in the cottage where Victoria May Aless Seidlinger lived with her boyfriend, who is accused of shooting her dead with a shotgun Wednesday in the Aptos Hills.

And there were no reports of escalating violence in the 3100 block of Trout Gulch Road on Wednesday afternoon during the unincorporated county’s first homicide this year, a Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office spokesman said.

Seidlinger, 61, was found dead in the cottage. Her 36-year-old boyfriend, who has no criminal history in Santa Cruz County, was found in a nearby 1,600-square-foot house on shared property with her 72-year-old estranged husband. Her husband, from whom she is separated, lives in the large house where he was found stabbed and her suspected killer was suffering a gunshot wound, according to property records and information from the sheriff’s office.

Seidlinger did not stab her husband, Sgt. Dee Baldwin confirmed. He said she did not harm anyone.

Her boyfriend, Patrick Aaron Collins, was charged Friday with first-degree murder while using a firearm, according to a criminal complaint filed in Santa Cruz County Superior Court. Investigators have only had access to statements from Collins and evidence generated by the shooting, Baldwin said.

“We have one side of a story,” Baldwin said.

The woman’s husband is not a suspect in the homicide, Baldwin said.

Collins was released from the hospital and arrested Thursday. Collins and the woman’s husband were found together shortly after 4:16 p.m., when officers were dispatched to an active, “dynamic” crime scene that has taken two days to process. Someone called 911 from the property, but there were no independent witnesses, authorities have said. Her husband was still receiving medical treatment Friday.

Initial reports during the 911 call described a victim of a gunshot wound with an active assailant. Telecommunicators then said there was a second assault victim and a caller would try to be outside with a cell phone when authorities arrived.

Friday, crime-scene investigators were going room to room at the large property: on which there is a house, cottage, barn, red vehicle with its hood open and yard furniture strewn among stands of redwoods in rugged terrain. The hillside property appeared tidy from the front and disheveled in the back. A neighboring home is behind the fenced crime scene.

Multiple neighbors interviewed by the Sentinel said they were home Wednesday afternoon but heard nothing at the property and were unfamiliar with the residents. One neighbor said he did hear a single “boom.” All said they heard the storm of law-enforcement vehicles soon after.

Related Articles Woman killed in chaotic scene in Santa Cruz Mountains home It is unclear what perpetuated the killing. Seidlinger has the same last name as the listed property owner, but authorities did not release the name of the survivor they consider a victim.

Collins, who is skinny and tall, is accused in court records of firing a Mossberg 500 shotgun, which is a series of guns with a range of gauges.

Baldwin declined to describe the crime scene in detail.

Collins has been cooperative with investigators, Baldwin said.

An autopsy was conducted.

Collins is at Santa Cruz County Jail. Bail was $750,000.

An arraignment is scheduled for 8:15 a.m. Feb. 4 before Superior Court Judge Stephen Siegel.

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