Family calls for justice in unsolved murder of Humboldt County rancher; names suspected killer
Dick Drewry's murder was the subject of "High Country Murder," a 2024 short documentary from UNWON.
The family of Richard “Dick” Drewry, an elderly rancher murdered in 2021 near his remote ranch in Northern California’s Humboldt County, is calling on authorities to charge the man they believe to be the killer: Michael Lindsey Bragg.
Drewry’s murder was the subject of High Country Murder, a documentary released last year by UNWON.
A new report in The Redheaded Blackbelt states the Drewry family is naming the man they suspect publicly for the first time. The family believes Bragg told his son-in-law about the murder, then assaulted his son-in-law for reporting him to police. This led to Bragg’s arrest in April 2023.
Bragg was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and took a plea deal, according to a statement from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office.
Bragg currently walks free. Attempts to reach Bragg for comment were unsuccessful. Though he is being accused by the family, Bragg has not been charged with Drewry’s murder.
Rancher’s murder in cannabis country remains unsolved
Drewry was found on January 26, 2021 by the side of Bell Springs Road behind the wheel of his still-running vehicle, dead from a single gunshot wound to the head.
A longtime rancher and descendant of pioneer homesteaders in the area, the 85 year-old was beloved by his community. Bell Springs Road has become notorious for illicit marijuana production and international drug trafficking organization activity in the decades since Drewry took over his family’s ranch.
Drewry left behind his wife, Phyllis, and two sons.
UNWON documentary “High Country Murder” features posts claiming to expose killer
Last year, UNWON released a short documentary investigating Drewry’s unsolved murder.
The documentary features several public Facebook posts from a former Humboldt County resident. In these posts, a woman claims her father killed a neighbor “while he was sitting in his car,” and that her father then assaulted her partner. Her name is concealed in the documentary. No one has yet been charged in the homicide.
A local store clerk on Bell Springs Road also told our documentary team she was told who killed Drewry by the “son-in-law” of the killer. The owner of the shop confirmed this, and said he believed the murder was “over water.”
Several sources told our team that the suspected killer was a close neighbor of Drewry’s who was operating a large cannabis operation. Sources said Drewry had a water agreement with this neighbor until he learned about the scope of his neighbor’s cannabis grow, at which point Drewry terminated their water agreement.
At the time, Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal told our team there was a “person of interest” in the case but that the DA had chosen not to prosecute due to an absence of evidence.
Water issues continue to plague California’s North Coast, worsened by the black market cannabis production rampant in the region. In nearby Round Valley, Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall says residents of tribal housing are being forced to shut off their water for eight hours a day due to overwhelming water use by large-scale marijuana grows, some operated by transnational criminal organizations.
“What’s scary is that’s fire suppression water too,” Kendall says.
According to a 2021 report in CalMatters, sheriffs in Siskiyou County estimated illegal marijuana grows were consuming two million gallons of water a day.
A 2024 study from UC Berkeley found that, in some Humboldt and Mendocino County watersheds, cannabis water demands constitute about 10% of total supply during dry months. Nearly all of this water goes to illegal grow sites.
Hippies & Cowboys: The Murder of Mendocino County Rancher Dick Drewry
This article is a companion piece to the short documentary “High Country Murder.” Stream the 20-minute film at Real Clear Politics or below:
Absolutely insane that everyone thinks that cannabis is “harmless.” In so many ways it isn’t and legalizing it didn’t make the illicit market die-out. 😔
The guy in the store said it best. It was better when…“It was more of an outlaw culture, rather than a corporate criminal culture…”. International drug trafficking organizations and their activity is the problem, the same thing is happening in the rural areas of Maine where Chinese foreign nationals connected to drug cartels are permitted to buy up properties and operate. It makes for a dangerous situation.