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Port Hueneme Police Release New Information on Couple's Death

Employee reports
| Ventura County Star

Port Hueneme police released new information Tuesday about a March shooting that left a husband and his pregnant wife, both affiliated with the Navy's Seabees, dead.

Police Chief Michael Federico's latest update, the first since April, provided the cause of death of the 21-year-old man but also left important questions about the incident unanswered.

In April, the Ventura County Coroner determined that the woman, 22-year-old Eva Berrueto-Gough, died from multiple gunshot wounds. The cause of death was ruled a homicide. The cause of fetal death was ruled intrauterine death due to multiple gunshot wounds to the mother and fetus, and the cause of death was ruled a homicide.

The medical examiner stated at the time that the cause of death of 21-year-old Ethan Gough was a gunshot wound to the head and neck. However, the exact cause of death has not yet been determined.

The cause of Gough's death is now known, police officials said in a press release on Tuesday evening.

“Based on the crime scene examination, autopsy results and crime lab testing, the medical examiner has determined that Ethan Gough's cause of death was also homicide,” the agency said, adding: “There are no other persons of interest in this investigation.”

Federico responded to an emailed question seeking clarification on whether the new evidence suggests that Berrueto-Gough and Gough shot each other.

“The medical examiner has concluded that both deaths were homicides, meaning that someone died at the hands of another person or another person was involved in the death of the deceased person,” he wrote. “It is not clear whether the actions were intentional or unintentional.”

For further questions, the department referred the case to the medical examiner.

The shooting was reported on March 16 when officers were called to a home in the 700 block of East Port Hueneme Road where the couple were found dead.

According to military records from the U.S. Department of the Navy, Gough was originally from Kansas, while Berrueto-Gough was born and raised in Texas.

Gough was assigned to the Navy's Mobile Construction Battalion 4 in Port Hueneme. The construction battalions in this detachment are often referred to as Seabees. He enlisted in the Navy in 2020 and was scheduled to transfer to Port Hueneme in 2022, military records show.

Burrueto-Gough was a reservist with the 1st Naval Construction Regiment in Port Hueneme, Navy officials said by email. A cousin said she was born in Houston, where she lived until moving to California in 2023.

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