Neighbor Finds 78-Year-Old Sacramento Man Dead Inside Home; Wife Severely Injured

SACRAMENTO COUNTY (CBS13) – Sacramento deputies say an elderly couple was attacked inside their home, leaving a 78-year-old man dead and his wife hospitalized.

"He's just a real kindhearted person and it's going to be real strange not to see uncle Mel," said the victim's nephew Gary O'Connor.

A neighbor found the man dead in the entryway of the mobile home in 2900 block of Routier Road. The man's 78-year-old wife, who suffers from Alzheimer's, was sent to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries.

"She had some bleeding on the brain and a couple cracked ribs," said O'Connor. "I know she probably sustained the injuries herself by protecting her husband. Even in her mental state, she would protect."

It was a bloody and gruesome scene inside the elderly couple's home.

"We heard sirens and police started rolling in, and we knew something was horribly bad," said neighbor Yavonne Folks.

Deputies say the neighbor went to check on the couple after hearing what sounded like a single gunshot coming from the home early Sunday morning. The front door was found propped open and the elderly man's body was just inside.

"There's so many of us that have lived here for years and years. When something like this happens, it's just close to home," said Folks.

Folks says the 78-year-old man was a dedicated caretaker of his ill wife. She says they lived in the home for more than 40 years.

"Jeanie was very ill with Alzheimer's and has been for years," she said. "Whatever's happened, he's gone, and no one knows about Jeanie, if she is going to make it or not."

Investigators have very little suspect information, but O'Connor says his uncle helped people who needed it, and wonders if someone took advantage of him.

It's still not clear what happened inside the mobile home, but a man who has lived in this neighborhood for more than 40 years is now dead, while doctors try to keep his wife alive.

"You're going to have to answer to a higher power one of these days, and I hope you get dealt with then," said O'Connor.

Investigators identified a car that may be connected to the crime -- a two-door 1991 Cadillac El Dorado, with a white top. Patrol officers found the vehicle unoccupied Sunday night.

It's not being called a suspect vehicle. However, authorities say it was stolen Sunday from an area near the murder; and, the circumstances have sparked their interest.