Police shot man who allegedly threatened daughter with a knife. Then they found her mother’s body

A missing young woman was found dead in the Santa Cruz Mountains last weekend, mere hours after police shot a man who they say was threatening the couple’s 3-year-old daughter with a knife.

The saga unfolded Saturday night when a man identified by police as Joshua Gonzalez showed up outside the Watsonville Police Department with his 3-year-old daughter, authorities wrote in a Facebook post.

Gonzalez, authorities said, called the dispatch center and said “he was armed with a knife and was going to hurt” the child.

An officer on patrol came across Gonzalez and ordered him to drop the knife. Authorities allege Gonzalez “ignored his commands and charged at the officer, who, in return, opened fire,” according to the Facebook post.

Gonzalez was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was listed as stable. The girl was unharmed and placed in the care of relatives.

A missing person report was issued shortly after police and family members were unable to contact the girl’s mother, 25-year-old Lizbeth Arceo Sedano.

The next morning, 10 miles or so north of Watsonville, deputies with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to the Santa Cruz Mountains after someone discovered a body near Eureka Canyon and Grizzly Flat roads, the office wrote in a Facebook post.

Homicide detectives were sent to the scene and identified the body as Sedano’s.

“Her death is being investigated as suspicious,” sheriff’s officials said, adding that the cause and manner of death will be determined by a medical examiner.