Marijuana trimmers from NJ wanted for killing their boss, cops say

LAYTONVILLE, Calif — Two New Jersey men working in California as marijuana trimmers are wanted in the murder of their boss.

Zachary Ryan Wuester, 24, of Haskell and Frederick Gaestel, 27 of Clifton along with three other suspects are accused of killing Jeffrey Quinn Settler, 35 of Bethel Island, Calif. on Friday in a remote area on a dirt road five miles west of Route 101 in Laytonville, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department.

Laytonville is located about 160 miles north of San Francisco.

Police said Settler ran a commercial marijuana growing operation for medicinal purposes and had recently hired the suspects, who returned to steal marijuana Settler stored in his home.

Settler was violently assaulted and killed during the robbery, police said. The robbers made off with 100 pounds of processed marijuana, leaving in two vehicles, police said. One of those vehicles in a 2017 Volkswagen Golf with Virginia license plates, and headed out of the area, possibly toward southern California.

Wuester, Gaestel and Gary Blank III from Elgin and Mary Lynn Fitzgerald, 23, both from Illinois and Amanda Weist, 26 from Virginia face murder and robbery charges.

Gaestel was one of 38 people arrested in 2009 as part of a marijuana drug bust in which 53,270 plants were seized, according to the East Bay Times.

The Sheriff's office asked anyone with information on the whereabouts of the suspects t0 call 707-463-4421.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com.