The man who discovered a crucial piece of evidence that ended a manhunt in Madera County shares his story.
Brandon Matthews found the truck belonging to the man who tried to run down a Madera Sheriff's deputy. What he didn't know was that the suspect was just a few feet away from him.
“As soon as I pulled into the driveway I knew that the gate was off its hinges,” said Brandon Matthews.
Matthews feeds the horses at this Coarsegold home.
When he showed up Friday evening - it appeared someone had broken through the front gate.
“As I proceed to the gate I started to notice skid marks up the driveway,” Matthews said.
He knew there had been an officer-involved shooting in the area a couple hours earlier.
41-year-old George Rosenberg tried to run down a Madera Sheriff's Deputy. The deputy fired at Rosenberg's truck as Rosenberg sped off.
“As soon as I got here and saw the gate I started putting two and two together and went from there,” Matthews said.
When he walked to the horse barn he saw the suspect's truck inside.
He called 9-1-1 and backed away. The dispatcher asked for a better description of the truck.
“So I kind of leaned in and I was hoping that my vision was clear. And I actually stumbled on a couple of numbers on the end a got a little tongue-tied. But it was enough for them in the end,” Matthews said.
If Brandon had walked just a little bit farther he would have come face to face with the suspect who was hiding right around the corner of the barn.
Deputies found Rosenberg with a shotgun.
He'd been hit by the deputy’s gunfire and bled to death.
“And it appeared he was lying in wait waiting to ambush the deputies knowing full well they'd find him,” said Erica Stuart with the Madera County Sheriff’s Department.
After Brandon learned the suspect was there and had a gun, he didn't sleep much that night.
“Just kinda kept going over the whole game plan in my head, what I did right, what I absolutely did right and what I'm glad I didn't do,” Matthews said.
