LAKEPORT — Seven months and 16 days since beloved father, respected community member, soccer coach and taxi diver Paul Joseph “Joe” Womachka, 39, was found dead, the Lake County Sheriff”s Department (LSCD) announced it has issued a warrant for Morgan Mathew Jack, 31, for Womachka”s murder.
Jack is the only identified suspect in a murder investigation that has shaken the community. Womachka was found dead, submerged in his taxi van in the waters of Clear Lake inside the Konocti Vista Casino marina at the Big Valley Rancheria in Lakeport on June 29.
Womachka, a Nice resident and father of three, was last seen just after midnight in the morning hours of June 27 after he was hired to drive Jack from Robinson Rancheria to his home in the Big Valley Rancheria next to Konocti Vista Casino. He was reported missing the same day by Erica Womachka, his ex-wife and businesses partner in their “Hey Taxi” franchise.
Jack is currently housed in the California State Prison at San Quentin on a parole violation unrelated to the murder charge. When he is released from San Quentin Feb. 28, he will be transported to the Lake County Jail and booked on a single count of homicide, according the LCSD.
LCSD and divers from the North Shore Dive Team recovered the taxi van after Konocti Vista Casino personnel discovered the van while preparing for BoardStock. It was located submerged more than 20 feet from a broken fence located on the shore that Sheriff”s Deputies had flagged as the point-of-entry for the van into the marina”s waters.
LCSD deputies took Jack into custody the same day the van was discovered and questioned him because he was the last person seen with Womachka. After he was released, the LCSD said he remained a suspect, but no charges were brought against Jack related to Womachka”s murder until yesterday.
In November, LCSD detectives worked with experts from General Motors to recover information from the taxi van”s computer. A press release said the computer could reveal details of when and how the van was driven prior to entering the lake.
On Friday, Lake County Sheriff Rodney Mitchell declined to say whether information from the General Motors investigation or DNA evidence submitted in September led to the issuance of Jack”s warrant and murder charge.
“I am not going to discuss any evidence?we need to re-dedicate our efforts to protect information so that details are released in court and not elsewhere,” Sheriff Rodney Mitchell said Friday.
In a September press release, LCSD Lt. Cecil Brown wrote, “Detectives continue to be frustrated by a lack of cooperation from residents of the Big Valley Rancheria. This crime involved a violent murder as well as a van being crashed through a fence into the marina. Detectives have received second-hand information that Rancheria residents have described the attack in detail, or even claimed to be participants. However, no witnesses have come forward to provide first-hand information about the murder.”
The LCSD declined to say Friday whether witnesses had come forward since September.
After Womachka”s murder, Jack was arrested twice for unrelated parole violations. He was arrested at Konocti Vista Casino June 29, released as part of a parole plan in late September, and again arrested Nov. 28 in Lakeport for parole violation.
Contact Elizabeth Wilson at ewilson@record-bee.com
