Grandson arrested after 97-year-old woman is found dead in Arden Arcade garage, sheriff says
Deputies arrested a man on suspicion of homicide after his 97-year-old grandmother was found dead inside her garage Friday evening in Arden Arcade, Sacramento County sheriff’s officials said.
Deputies conducted a welfare check Friday afternoon at the woman’s home on American River Drive, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday in a news release, after neighbors reported she had not been seen or heard from in a couple of days.
Bryan Wiggins, 40, the victim’s grandson, opened the door along with his 31-year-old girlfriend, sheriff’s officials wrote.
Wiggins told deputies that his grandmother had just left the home in an Uber to visit Wiggins’ father, according to the news release.
Responding deputies saw a section of carpet that had been removed, safes in the home’s living room that had been broken into and observed that “the home appeared to have been ransacked,” the news release said.
Deputies detained Wiggins and his girlfriend, then searched the house but did not find the victim. They then searched a vehicle inside the garage registered to Wiggins, according to the news release, where they found the woman.
Detectives determined that Wiggins and his girlfriend “forced their way inside of her home, looking for a place to stay,” sheriff’s officials wrote in the news release. “When the victim told them to leave, Wiggins beat his grandmother to death.”
Wiggins and his girlfriend then allegedly placed the body into the trunk of Wiggins’ vehicle, according to the news release.
Both were arrested and booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail on Saturday morning. Wiggins faces a homicide charge, and his girlfriend faces charges of burglary and being an accessory after the fact, online jail records show. Both are ineligible for bail and are scheduled to appear in Sacramento Superior Court on Tuesday.
The victim had not been identified by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office as of Saturday morning. Her identity will be released after family members are notified. She lived alone, the Sheriff’s Office said.
