Son, 32, arrested on homicide charge after mother was found dead in Northern California home
Northern California detectives arrested a man on suspicion of homicide in his mother’s death earlier this week after authorities responding to a medical call found her body at a Butte County home.
About 6:40 p.m. Monday, deputies were called to the home in the 300 block of Obermeyer Avenue in a rural neighborhood just east of Highway 99 in the small town of Gridley.
Cal Fire officials responded to the home for a medical call that was determined to be suspicious, so the firefighters asked for deputies to assist them, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday in a news release.
The deputies arrived at the home and found “a crime scene” and the dead woman, later identified as Veronica Avalos de Cardenas, 55, of Gridley.
Sheriff’s detectives obtained a search warrant for the home. With help from the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Forensic Services, the sheriff’s detectives collected evidence at the crime scene.
Sheriff’s officials said the detectives collected evidence “giving them cause to believe” the woman was “physically assaulted and murdered by her son,” identified as Hugo Cardenas, 32, of Gridley. Detectives believe the son left the home in a vehicle after the homicide occurred, authorities said.
Later that evening, the Stockton Police Department arrested Cardenas. The Butte County detectives went to Stockton and found additional evidence leading them to believe Cardenas “murdered” his mother, sheriff’s officials said.
The Sheriff’s Office did not indicate Wednesday what evidence was collected that led the detectives Cardenas killed his mother.
Cardenas was arrested on suspicion of homicide and booked at the Butte County Jail, where he remained in custody Wednesday afternoon.
Investigators asked anyone with information relevant to the homicide case to call the Butte County Sheriff’s Office’s felony investigations unit at 530-538-7671.
