Suicide possibly linked to San Francisco postal supervisor's murder

By Brent Begin, Bay City News Service

December 2, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - San Francisco police are investigating the possible connection between the suicide of a U.S. Postal Service employee on Wednesday and the execution-style shooting of a post office supervisor the day before in San Francisco.

According to police Sgt. Steve Mannina, homicide inspectors are looking into the possibility that Julius Tartt, a 39-year-old postal employee, may have killed Genevieve Ruiz, 53, Tuesday morning as she left her Visitacion Valley home for work.

Ruiz, a post office customer service supervisor and a mother of four, was apparently getting into her silver sport utility vehicle just before 6 a.m. to head to the post office at 180 Napoleon St. when she was shot.

An hour passed, however, before her body was found because a call wasn't made to the police until just before 7 a.m.

Tartt was found dead Wednesday afternoon off Bluebell Drive in Livermore, the result of an apparent suicide, according to the Alameda County coroner's office.

Tartt worked as a postal carrier under the supervision of Paez at the Napoleon Street branch, according to police.

Rumors are swirling on the Internet that Paez and Tartt had some problems in their working relationship. More than 50 comments have come in on a story on Postalreporter.com, an insider Web site for postal employees.

Some of the comments paint an unflattering picture of relations among supervisors and mail carriers throughout the U.S. Postal Service. Other comments wish Paez's family well and call for a speedy investigation.

A post office spokesman did not return calls for comment yesterday and employees at the Napoleon branch refused to comment.

Mannina added that the Police Department would not make any announcement unless there was a definitive link between Tartt's suicide and Paez's killing. Investigators are now working with ballistics evidence to see if the gun used in Paez's killing matches the one used in Tartt's suicide.

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