MENDOCINO CO., 10/4/26 – Mendocino County sheriff’s deputies are looking for a 31-year-old man suspected of stabbing an acquaintance from behind on Thursday night in the unincorporated Mendocino County area of Covelo after asking him for a ride, the Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.
Jeffrey Allan Joaquin, of Covelo, is wanted on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, using a deadly weapon in a felony and violating parole, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.
The victim, a 33-year-old Covelo man, had driven Joaquin to a house in the 23000 block of Road 337D when Joaquin allegedly came up behind him without warning and stabbed him multiple times, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Joaquin fled after the attack, the Sheriff’s Office said. The victim was taken to the Covelo Fire Protection District station on Covelo Road for medical aid.
Deputies were dispatched about 8:30 p.m. Thursday to Adventist Health Howard Memorial Hospital in Willits on a report of a man with multiple stab wounds. The Sheriff’s Office did not say how the victim got from Covelo to the Willits hospital or describe his condition.
Deputies searched the Covelo area for Joaquin but had not found him as of Saturday, and the investigation is continuing, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Joaquin is on parole with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Sheriff’s Office said. He is also awaiting sentencing in a separate assault with a deadly weapon case. In that case, according to the Sheriff’s Office, he used an edged weapon on another person.
Anyone with information can call the Sheriff’s Office at 707-463-4086, option 1, or leave an anonymous tip at 707-234-2100.