The main characters

Thomas “Pat” Higgins: A 31-year veteran of the Sacramento Police Department and longtime homicide investigator who, two weeks before his retirement, was assigned the shooting death of Stacy Norman on June 13, 2015.

Bryan Mattison: A Placer County sheriff’s detective who had been working homicides for two years before catching the double-murder on Annabelle Avenue on the outskirts of Roseville on June 25, 2015.

Chris Joyce: Mattison’s partner in Placer County sheriff’s homicide unit, assigned to that job eight months before the double-murder on Annabelle Avenue.

Jason Benson: A low-level methamphetamine dealer who sold around Citrus Heights and Roseville and was killed on June 25, 2015 in Placer County. He was best friends with Warren Galsote.

Warren Galsote: A small-time meth dealer who sold mostly around Old North Sacramento and was killed June 25, 2015 in Placer County. He was best friends with Jason Benson.

Lydiana “Kalani” Gorgostiza: Warren Galsote’s girlfriend who tried to escape Sacramento’s drug world by fleeing to Fresno in the weeks before Galsote and Benson were killed.

Joshua “Whetto” Smith: A North Sacramento man who had been arrested 11 times, including for assault with a deadly weapon, prior to the violence in North Sacramento and East Roseville. He was close friends with Warren Galsote.

Laurencio “Goppy” Quintero: A suspect in a 1994 Sacramento slaying, though never convicted, Quintero was spending most of his time with Joshua Smith and Richie Gutierrez in the weeks prior to the violence in Sacramento and Placer counties.

Richard “Richie” Gutierrez: The nephew of Joshua Smith and a friend of Laurencio Quintero, Gutierrez had already been convicted of robbery before the violence.