UPDATED: 3 Suspects in Fatal Shooting of Therapist Arrested in Oregon

Updated at 5:40 p.m.

Three suspects in the fatal shooting of a prominent therapist on a Marin County hiking trail Monday were arrested Wednesday after they apparently drove the dead victim’s stolen car to Portland, Ore., according to the Marin County Sheriff’s Office.

The suspects were arrested at about 2:15 p.m. outside a community dining hall by officers with the Portland Police Bureau, Marin County sheriff’s Lt. Doug Pittman said. Sheriff’s investigators are on their way to Oregon to interview the suspects and start proceedings to return them to California.

They are suspected in the fatal shooting of 67-year-old Steve Carter. A hiker on a trail in the Loma Alta Open Space Preserve north of Fairfax called 911 at 6:06 p.m. Monday to report a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds on the trail. The victim’s Doberman Pinscher, also shot, was still leashed to him.

Sheriff’s deputies swarmed the area searching for clues and asked for assistance locating Carter’s Volkswagen Jetta. Investigators found surveillance footage showing three people refueling the Jetta at the Greenbridge gas station in Point Reyes Station, Pittman said.

Investigators used the car’s GPS to track it to Portland and alerted police there that the suspects were in the area. Portland police tracked found the car at the dining hall this afternoon and arrested the suspets after keeping them under surveillance for about an hour, Pittman said.

They were taken into custody without incident. Pittman said sheriff’s officials have not learned their names yet and investigators are unsure what they were doing in Marin County or why they might have shot Carter. It does not appear that Carter knew the suspects, the lieutenant said.

Carter had moved from California to Costa Rica with his wife, Lokita Carter, in December, but they returned in July when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

When they moved to Costa Rica , they gave up their longtime business, the Lake County-based Ecstatic Living Institute, which they founded together in 1999 to provide instruction in subjects like tantric massage and yoga. They also gave workshops throughout the country and Central America and sold instructional DVDs.

When they returned to California, Steve Carter continued to practice yoga and regularly took long walks with their dog.

“I am beyond words, and it is only the knowledge how much you all love Steve, and me, that keeps me going at this extremely difficult time,” Lokita Carter wrote today on a GoFundMe page for her cancer treatments.

“May you celebrate each moment that life gives you, and may you love your beloveds as much as humanly possible every moment, because we just never know when life will come to an end, and that hug you gave each other might be the last one,” she wrote.

Lokita Carter has been regularly blogging about her battle with cancer and raising funds for treatment at https://www.gofundme.com/7q7yfu7ws.

Original Story:

A prominent therapist who recently moved back to California to care for his cancer-stricken wife was found shot to death on a hiking trail in Marin County’s Loma Alta Open Space Preserve on Monday evening.

Marin County sheriff’s deputies were scouring the trails north of Fairfax on Tuesday for clues after a man was found shot to death with his Doberman Pinscher, also shot, still leashed to him, according to sheriff’s Lt. Doug Pittman. The dog survived and is being treated by veterinarian.

Friends and family identified the victim as Steve Carter, a therapist who founded the Lake County-based Ecstatic Living Institute along with his wife, Lokita Carter, in 1999.

Carter’s body was found by a hiker at about 6 p.m. Monday, Pittman said. His 2003 silver Volkswagen Jetta with California license plate number 6PPG662 disappeared from the area and investigators believe the suspect or
suspects may be driving it, Pittman said.

Marin Sheriff’s Department released surveillance footage late Tueday of two people of interest who were seen near the trail where the body was found. The footage was taken at a convenience store in Fairfax.

Anyone who spots the car or the two ”persons of interest” has been asked to call 911 immediately. Steve and Lokita Carter had moved to Costa Rica in December, selling their business, home and all of their belongings. But Lokita Carter was diagnosed with breast cancer in July and they moved back so she could get treatment at the Marin Cancer Institute in Greenbrae, according to Lokita Carter’s personal blog.

They celebrated their 17th anniversary in the midst of her cancer treatments and Lokita Carter wrote, “Steve has been amazing -- unflappable in his love, patience, caring and support.”

“The side effects of chemotherapy can knock down even the best mediator, the most docile patient, and Steve has been nothing but exemplary, loving, kind, patient,” Lokita Carter wrote.

She said he had been going to yoga daily and for two-hour walks with their dog.

Their business was widely renowned, providing instruction in tantric massage and yoga. They released instructional DVDs together and gave trainings throughout the U.S. and in Central America.

Among other locations, they gave workshops at Harbin Hot Springs, which was recently destroyed in the Valley Fire.

As she blogged about her treatment, Lokita Carter has been raising money for her cancer treatments at https://www.gofundme.com/7q7yfu7ws

The Marin County Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone with information about the case to call (415) 473-7265.

--Bay City News Service contributed to this story, photos courtesy of the Marin County Sheriff’s Department