280 death ruled a suicide

Yesterday, the Sheriff's Department announced a dramatically different scenario. Fields used a shotgun recovered in the center divide of southbound 280 to fire a single shot into his head. A few weeks ago, police were able to match a casing found in the car with a casing found in the gun - making it the key piece of evidence to seal the case, said Sgt. Linda Gibbons.

Investigators from the Sheriff's and Coroner's offices each had evidence leading to suicide and pooled their facts a few weeks ago.

"We made sure we had all the facts on the table and nothing was askew," Gibbons said.

Last week, they informed the family of their findings. Fields left behind a wife and 1-year-old son.

The shotgun used had a shorter barrel and pistol grip, making it possible for Fields to hold it out the window and shoot himself once in the left side of the head. An officer about the same size as Fields re-enacted the suicide in an identical car, Gibbons said.

Investigators determined that two rounds were fired, but aren't sure if he missed once or discharged by accident, Gibbons said.

"There are a lot of unanswered questions," Gibbons said.

Police don't know for certain why he decided to kill himself that way. However, there's the possibility is he wanted it to look like murder, Gibbons said.

The reason for Fields to take his own life is being kept under wraps. It was "personal" and there were some recent developments that led police to believe there were some family problems, Gibbons said.

One of the keys to piecing the investigation together was the gun. The police traced the serial number on the badly damaged gun to a friend of Fields. The person was initially looked at as a possible suspect, but police quickly found out the gun was borrowed by Fields some time before the suicide.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com