On October 2, 2024, in Dorris, California, 55‑year‑old Mary Loretta Curtz was found dead in her yard from a gunshot wound. Deputies from the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office responded after reports of a shooting. While deputies secured the scene, Curtz’s 24‑year‑old son, Andre Bryant Layne, contacted dispatchers and said he had accidentally shot his mother with a stolen rifle.

Dispatchers kept him on the line and persuaded him to come out of a nearby residence unarmed; a California Highway Patrol officer detained him without incident. Layne was arrested, booked into the Siskiyou County Jail and faces charges including suspicion of murder, burglary, and grand theft of a firearm, with bail set at $250,000 on the murder charge. The investigation is ongoing.

Did anyone in the Dorris area see or hear anything around the time of the shooting that could help investigators?