Family Of Stockton's 35th Homicide Victim Pleas For Community's Help

STOCKTON (CBS13) - Eighty-four-year-old Hazel Dingman's family can't comprehend why anyone would want the elderly woman, who suffered from dementia, dead.

"She had a family who loved her and loved them and she thought family was everything," said daughter Susan Trinchera.

Dingman was home alone when an attacker struck during broad daylight Thursday.

"To do this heinous crime to her, even afterwards, if they left her alive, because of the dementia she wouldn't have been able to give anybody information about them," said Trinchera.

After lunch with her son, Dingman told family she was taking a nap.

Her daughter returned a few hours later and found Dingman dead and the home ransacked.

"He gave her $8. That was all that was there. Nothing's stashed away, nothing," said Trinchera.

Police spent hours processing the three acre crime scene. Officers from several divisions are looking for leads and even have detectives checking on sex offenders in the area.

"When you hear of something happening to an elderly female that definitely takes it to a different level," said Officer Joseph Silva, Stockton Police Department.

Neighbors say Dingman was a friendly face who would often allow people to fish in the slough behind her home.

"Felt like she was family, everybody knew her. She was the sweetest lady ever," said neighbor Sandra Hernandez.

Dingman's family is begging for closure and hopes the community helps police find her killer.