August 16, 2015 is a dark day for Sutter County law enforcement. Sara Matthews Easton was shot in the head while in the bedroom of her Yuba City, CA home. It is a suspected homicide.
Sara Easton was a 31-year-old mother of three and wife of the Marysville, CA Police Department Chief, Aaron Easton. Her husband was present in the home and her three children were in bed just a room away when the shooting occurred.
Sara was shot with Aaron’s service pistol. Her husband said that she killed herself. Aaron picked-up his gun, unloaded it and placed it on the night stand before police arrived.
The case immediately became a fiasco and embarrassment to the judicial system. It revealed a lack of character and morality among its workers. Former Sutter County District Attorney Carl Adams had already resigned due to accusations of sexual impropriety and misallocation of State Victim Services funds.
Newly elected District Attorney (DA) Amanda Hopper’s husband Brian (now divorced) was interviewed about Sara Easton’s death by Yuba City Police. The Hoppers involvement with the Eastons created a conflict of interest for DA Hopper’s office to prosecute the case. Brian Hopper and Aaron Easton once worked together at Yuba County Sheriff’s Department.
The investigation exposed known swinger groups in the community, some involving law enforcement, district attorney employees and private citizens. Some believed that the Hoppers and Eastons were involved.
The Sutter County Jail Captain at the time had also been arrested for child molestation involving his adopted teen daughter. He pleaded no contest to child endangerment. A domestic violence case against a Sutter County Sheriff Bailiff was buried by the DA’s office due to his affair with an attorney employed there.
Yuba City Police initially investigated the Sara Easton death and the Sutter County Sheriff handled coroner and autopsy duties.
Due to the conflicts of interest locally, the case was referred to the California Department of Justice (DOJ) for investigation. The DOJ was led by Attorney General Kamala Harris who was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown. Harris later became a US Senator and then 49th Vice- President of the United States.
Harris is currently running for President of the United States.
Chief of Police Aaron Easton then married Chanell Cheney, a woman some suspect he was having an affair with prior to Sara's death.
In November 2017, Chief Aaron Easton resigned from the Marysville Police Department after accusations of a sexual assault (oral copulation) in 2008 against a police cadet attending the Yuba College Police Academy. Aaron and Chanell then relocated to Oklahoma.
In May of 2022, Chanell Easton was indicted on 22 counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft for embezzling funds from St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Yuba City where she was a secretary from 2013 to 2018. She was found guilty by a jury in March 2024 of taking $360,000 and faces up to 20-years in prison and fines. Was Chief Easton benefitting from the stolen funds?
Requests for information about Sara Easton’s case submitted to the California Department of Justice, and local law enforcement agencies produced no results.
However, an unredacted Death Certificate was finally obtained in April of 2021 after years of agency resistance. Sara’s cause of death was listed as "GUNSHOT WOUND TO THE HEAD PENDING TOXICOLOGY." The toxicology report was completed in November of 2016.
Sara’s case remains unsolved.
It’s ironic that a candidate for President of the United States once was in control of the Easton investigation. Local law enforcement believes Aaron killed Sara. Current Sutter County District Attorney Jennifer Dupre (defeated former DA Amanda Hopper) has not acted on the case.
Are there too many “important” people involved in the sexual scandal for justice to prevail?
Today, Sara’s family waits for justice. Chanell Easton waits for sentencing. Aaron Easton is an Oklahoma appellate attorney. Maybe some local people are relieved that another year has passed without a real investigation.
(Lou Binninger can be heard on No Hostages Radio podcast, live on KMYC 1410AM 10-1 Saturdays, read at Live with Lou on Facebook and at Nohostagesradio.com)
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