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• Sheriff’s Office Names Dinsmore Homicide Victim; Investigation Ongoing
• That Hubbub in Arcata Last Night? The Sheriff’s Office Was Arresting Two Kids For Homicide

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A Dinsmore teen has been charged with first-degree murder and a slew of other felonies for the October 2017 slaying of a 68-year-old man found shot to death outside his rural home.

According to court records, 18-year-old Duane Dean Gillespie was moved to Humboldt County Correctional Facility on Sept. 21 after the District Attorney’s Office succeeded in having his case transferred out of Juvenile Court. He was arraigned on the charges Sept. 24 and is expected back in court Oct. 23 to have his preliminary hearing date set.

Gillespie was 17 when, on Oct. 5, 2017,  he allegedly murdered Richard Dennis Falk, who had once been Gillespie’s foster father. Falk’s bullet-riddled body was found outside his home in Dinsmore. Gillespie and an unidentified girl were arrested a few days later in Arcata.

The criminal complaint against Gillespie alleges first-degree murder, carjacking, robbery and burglary. He also faces the special allegation of personally using a firearm to kill Falk, meaning that if convicted a prison term of up to life could be added to any sentence he receives.

Gillespie also is charged with burglarizing a woman’s home on Sept.16, 2017.