El Dorado County murder suspect arrested in Washington

Submitted by paula on Sun, 02/03/2019 - 5:47pm

A man with ties to South Lake Tahoe has been arrested in connection with the murder of 60-year-old Helen McKinney.

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office (EDSO) announced Sunday that 26-year-old Tanner Michael Seals is in the Adams County Jail in Washington State after being arrested on an out-of-state warrant on January 31. He was interviewed by EDSO detectives and will be extradited to El Dorado County and charged with murder.

McKinney, a grandmother of six from El Dorado, California was found dead in her home on December 18, 2018. Relatives hadn't heard from her in over three weeks. An autopsy found that she died from blunt force trauma. As they searched for the person(s) responsible for the murder, EDSO put out a call for assistance in locating the victim's missing car, a white 2017 Nissan 370Z.

The car was located inside a garage in Sacramento in January 2019.

According to Seals' Facebook page, he went to South Tahoe High School. He had previous court appearances in South Lake Tahoe, the most recent one for a Grand Theft arrest in 2018.