Valley man arrested in Santa Cruz homicide

A San Lorenzo Valley resident is the third man to be charged in the death of a 29-year-old Los Angeles businessman in Santa Cruz after an apparent drug deal gone bad.
A warrant was signed Jan. 14 charging Kenneth Clamp, 29, with murder, kidnapping and robbery, according to the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office.
Clamp was arrested with two other men during the investigation of the disappearance and presumed homicide of Elias Sorokin in July 2009.
Authorities believe that Clamp may have helped dump Sorokin’s body somewhere in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Clamp, who has a violent criminal record involving drugs according to court records, was sent back to state prison on a parole violation while the other suspects, 29-year-old Adam Hunt of Watsonville and 32-year-old Stewart Skuba of Santa Cruz, faced charges for Sorokin’s slaying.
Charges against Clamp were then filed after Santa Cruz police detectives chased leads in the case, authorities said.
According to police, Sorokin came to Santa Cruz on July 20 for a drug deal while commuting from Oakland to L.A. However, the sale took a deadly turn when Sorokin was kidnapped, robbed and killed, authorities said.
Sorokin was allegedly involved in marijuana trafficking, but police have not said what part he played in the transaction that left him dead. How much marijuana was involved or recovered has not been disclosed.
In the week after his disappearance, Sorokin’s credit cards and checks were used at county businesses, which led to a missing person investigation.
Then, Sorokin’s burned-out truck was found in Bonny Doon on July 28. Three days later, the FBI searched a condo on Felix Street in Santa Cruz, where police think Sorokin was beaten on July 21.
Sorokin’s father came to Santa Cruz during the time of the disappearance and spent weeks searching for his son.
His remains have not been found. However, homicide charges can be pursued without the victim’s body.
Both Hunt and Skuba have pleaded innocent and remain in county jail. Clamp is being held in a state prison facility and will be brought to county jail soon.