Boy Killed, Father Is Arrested in Boating Accident
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September 18, 2019 | $1.50 inside TIBURON • BELVEDERE • STRAWBERRY BELVEDERE COP CITY SLASHES WALKER PLEADS Named the nation’s best SERIOUSLY HURT TIME-LIMIT FOR TIBURON TO small community weekly 2018 & 2019 winner, 2014-2017 fi nalist IN CRASH ON PENALTY FOR BAN INVASIVE General Excellence, National Newspaper Association SAN RAFAEL AVE. HOME BUILDER WEEDS AT TRAIL Volume 47, Issue 38 | thearknewspaper.com Page 5 Page 7 Page 11 Best place for mooring fi eld, transient Boy killed, anchor-outs is off Belvedere, experts say father is Areas off island, cove free of habitat-critical eelgrass arrested By GRETCHEN LANG [email protected] ——— in boating Marine ecologists hired to f nd the best location for a permanent mooring f eld on Richardson Bay have their top candidate: the waters of Belvedere accident Island. At the Sept. 12 meeting of the Richardson Bay Regional Agency board of directors, Keith Merkel Man faces manslaughter charges, of San Diego-based environmental-consulting had been drinking, police say f rm Merkel & Associates Inc. said a patch of water running 600 feet of the western shore of By HANNAH WEIKEL Belvedere and extending into the center of the bay [email protected] would move boats away from Sausalito and help ——— protect environmentally sensitive eelgrass beds. A prominent land developer was arrested ——— ABOVE: MERKEL & ASSOCIATES INC. | BELOW: KEVIN HESSEL / THE ARK at his Corinthian Island home after a fatal See ANCHORAGE, PAGE 20 A rendering shows eelgrass frequency in Richardson Bay from 2003 to this boating accident near Angel Island that year. A mooring-fi eld study by Merkel & Associates Inc. for the Richardson Bay killed his 11-year-old son and severely in- Regional Agency says the best way to protect the beds is to move the Richardson jured the boy’s older brother. Bay anchorage into Belvedere waters. Below, the anchorage is seen The brothers were reportedly ejected from from above Belvedere’s West Shore Road. the boat and then struck by it when their fa- ther attempted to rescue them. Javier A. Burillo, 57, of Belvedere was booked into Marin County Jail on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with a vessel, will- ful harm or injury to a child and reckless operation of a vessel. Police say Burillo had been drinking, and a boating death becomes legally non-accidental when the operator is suspected to be under the inf uence of alcohol. ——— See BOAT, PAGE 20 Strawberry gun suspect surrenders Unsolved slaying 10 years ago after evacuation and manhunt By HANNAH WEIKEL his apartment but late r learned he had this week still mystifi es Tiburon [email protected] left the area before deputies arrived. ——— It’s unclear whether he ever led them By HANNAH WEIKEL chased down every possible lead and A Strawberry man surrendered to believe he was inside the building. [email protected] studied each shred of evidence col- himself to Marin County Sherif ’s Phillip Hosea Smith, 65, was ——— lected from the scene — but each time deputies in Oakland one day after he booked into Marin County Jail Sept. The decade that has passed since the trail has gone cold. allegedly brandished a gun during an 13 on suspicion of criminal threats, Joan Rosenthal was killed has yielded However, leaps in DNA testing have altercation with a neighbor, causing a brandishing a f rearm, vandalism and no new information about the identity kept hope alive that the perpetrator massive police response and evacua- possession of a f rearm and ammuni- of her killer or what motivated some- will someday be caught, said Tiburon tion of a North Knoll Road af ordable- tion with a prior felony conviction. His one to shoot the 75-year-old Tiburon Police Chief Michael Cronin. housing complex. bail is set at $50,000. widow on her patio in one of the safest “We are continuing to re-examine Authorities at the time believed the ——— neighborhoods in the country. ——— Rosenthal man had barricaded himself inside See GUN, PAGE 18 Over the years, police say they’ve See ROSENTHAL, PAGE 19 Belvedere 7 | Tiburon 10 | Strawberry 13 | Police Logs 17 | ArkBeat 21 | Classifi eds 23 Weekend Weather | B Friday 72° 54° | B Saturday 73° 56° | H Sunday 74° 57° CLIENT FOCUSED RESULTS DRE #01863705 | C 415.419.4510 | ScottCWoods.com 20 NEWS | THE ARK • SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 thearknewspaper.com Boat, continued from page 1 and found Burillo at his Bellevue Avenue In addition to the Tiburon Police Depart- above the yacht club parking lot, Mujica- ——— house at the tip of Corinthian Island. It was ment and Marin County Sherif ’s Of ce, the Beavers said she didn’t get home until 10 unclear at press time whether Burillo had U.S. Coast Guard is also investigating the p.m. Sunday and didn’t witness the police Burillo’s bail has been set at $1 million. left the boys so he could place the 911 call. incident. response. She spoke to members of Burillos’ Police say that about 7 p.m. Sept. 15, Bu- “He was grief-stricken but completely co- Burillo, also known as Javier Burillo extended family on Monday, who said the rillo called 911 to report an injured and un- operative,” Cronin said in an interview. Azcarraga, is a well-known real-estate de- 27-year-old son was going to need surgery responsive 11-year-old boy on a boat docked “I really cannot imagine his grief,” Cronin veloper in Mexico and the U.S. who report- on his knee. at the Corinthian Yacht Club. said. edly owns some 18 restaurants and is the “I’m very close to the family, and I know The boy and his 27-year-old half-brother Cronin said police of cers at the scene developer of Las Ventanas al Paraiso, an how much (Burillo) adored his kids,” she said. had been thrown from a 33-foot Targa Pro- administered a breath test and determined award-winning resort in San Jose del Cabo She said the elder son’s mother lives in tector in rough waters near Angel Island Burillo had been drinking, and his blood- on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. The Mexico and was f ying in Sept. 16. as they were crossing from San Francisco, alcohol concentration was over the .08 limit Azcarraga family is one of the wealthiest in Burillo and the younger boy’s mother, Tiburon Police Chief Mike Cronin said. for operating a boat. The exact result was Mexico and owns Televisa, the primary TV Rose, had been married for 20 years but During recovery, the boat — a hard- not available at press time. network in Mexico and reportedly the larg- recently separated, pending a divorce case hulled inf atable with twin outboard motors Investigators say it’s unclear whether the est producer and broadcaster of Spanish- f led in Marin Superior Court in April. — struck the two victims, Cronin said. two sons were wearing life jackets when language media in the world. Mujica-Beavers said Burillo and his fam- The 27-year-old was able to help the boat’s they were thrown from the boat. Burillo and News of the incident drew Bay Area and ily moved to Corinthian Island about 15 operator, identif ed by police as their father, his sons were the only people aboard. Spanish-language news vans and helicop- years ago. They had also owned a home in Burillo, recover the 11-year-old from the Cronin said no witnesses to the incident ters to Belvedere’s shores through the day Kenwood. water. have yet been identif ed. Sept. 16. Rose Burillo recently moved into a rental Tiburon Fire Protection District paramed- The exact cause and manner of the boy’s Azita Mujica-Beavers, who lives on East- home in Paradise Cay. ics and the Belvedere police were the f rst to death will be determined through a post- view Avenue overlooking the Corinthian The boy, who had special needs, had been arrive at the docks of the Corinthian Yacht mortem examination and toxicology test, Yacht Club, said she’s known Burillo and his attending Escuela Bilingue Internacional in Club, where Burillo is a member and has a and the results are expected to be released family in Mexico for decades. She described Emeryville for two years but was recently slip, and found the brothers on a slip close later this week, Cronin said. Burillo as a “very good family man.” being home-schooled. to the parking lot. The 11-year-old was pro- Several Marin sherif ’s deputies were at “He is a wonderful man, he loves his chil- nounced dead, and his older brother was the Burillo home on Sept. 16 but declined to dren,” she said. “This must have been a hor- Reporter Hannah Weikel covers the city taken to Marin General Hospital with severe say whether they were executing a search, rible nightmare accident. The fact they are of Belvedere, as well as crime, courts and leg lacerations. adding only that they were there as part of holding him (in jail) is insane.” public safety issues on the Tiburon Penin- Tiburon police took over the investigation the investigation. Though her home is perched directly sula. Reach her at 415-944-4627. Anchorage, continued from page 1 highest in years, but damage from anchoring Road,” he said. the bay are f ll and therefore illegal. The agen- ——— is clearly apparent, he said. Winter said he felt there was “ample area” cy will need the commission’s endorsement if He showed aerial photographs of crop to install the f eld in county waters. it wants to install a mooring f eld, but that is A small f eld for transient boats could be circles dug into eel-grass beds from anchor But the area Merkel suggests is almost looking less and less likely.