HEMET: “At-risk missing adult” found dead on Soboba Reservation, day after suspicious car fire
HEMET – The day after a vehicle was found engulfed in flames in a riverbed east of Castille Canyon, sheriff’s officials announced the discovery of a body near where the burnt-out vehicle had been located.
The area where the burned vehicle and body were found is part of the Soboba Indian Reservation in an unincorporated area of Hemet.
During their investigation, authorities determined the fire to be “suspicious in nature,” according to Riverside Sheriff’s Sergeant Walter Mendez.
Kathleen Haney is still missing and considered “at-risk” after a vehicle she had been in was found burned on the Soboba Reservation.
Riverside County Sheriff’s officials determined the victim was one of two people the department had identified as “at-risk missing adults” after they had investigated the vehicle fire.
The investigation into the incident began Monday, Jan. 23, about 6:39 a.m., when deputies assigned to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Hemet/Valle Vista station were dispatched to the area after a citizen called 911 to report the vehicle fire.
Based on their findings and the circumstances surrounding the fire, Hemet sheriff’s investigators responded and assumed the investigation.
During the vehicle fire investigation, deputies identified two people, Kathleen Ann Haney, 56, of Hemet and Kyle Nathan Cagey, 27, of Pala, as at-risk missing persons.
The following afternoon, at about 1 p.m., Jan. 24, “sheriff’s investigators were summoned to an area east of Castille Canyon on the Soboba Reservation after a body was found in the riverbed,” Mendez explained.
Responding deputies located and positively identified Cagey as the deceased victim. Based on evidence at the scene, officials determined Cagey did not appear to have died of natural causes.
“His death (has been) classified as a homicide,” according to Mendez.
Investigators from the Sheriff’s Central Homicide Unit were summoned to the scene and assumed the investigation into Cagey’s death.
During their investigation, officials conducted a search of the area for Haney, the second missing person; “however the whereabouts of Kathleen Haney are still unknown,” Mendez explained. She is still considered to be an at-risk missing person.
“Due to the ongoing investigation, no further information will be released at this time,” Mendez wrote in a press release about the incident.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation or who knows the whereabouts of Haney is encouraged to immediately contact Investigator Jose Vasquez of the Sheriff’s Central Homicide Unit at (760) 393-3529. Callers can refer to incident file number D170230024 and can remain anonymous. Citizens may also submit a tip using the Sheriff’s Homicide Tipline online form.
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Trevor Montgomery spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg in an off-duty accident.
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including the Robert Presley Detention Center, the Southwest Station in Temecula, the Hemet Station, and the Lake Elsinore Station, along with many other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, Personnel and Background Investigations and he finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator.
Trevor has been married for more than 26 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and has 13 children and 12 – soon to be 13 – grandchildren.