A 40-year-old man and his romantic partner stand accused of killing the man’s 97-year-old Sacramento grandmother and dumping her in the trunk of a car, and they also allegedly emptied out the household’s safes.

A 97-year-old Sacramento woman was killed last week, but the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office has not yet released her name. Still, it should not be difficult for the family to figure out her identity, as the Chronicle reports her 40-year-old grandson has been charged with her murder, in what authorities say was an apparent robbery scheme.


Deputies were called to do a welfare check on the woman’s home at American River Drive near Ashton Drive on Friday, according to Sacramaneto’s KCRA, as neighbors said they hadn’t heard from her in days. That station reports that the door was answered by the woman’s 40-year-old grandson Brian Wiggins, and his 31-year-old girlfriend Dozsha Beckwith. They told sheriff’s deputies that the elderly woman had taken an Uber to visit her husband at an assisted living facility.

Yet plenty seemed off at the scene. “From there deputies observed a missing piece of carpet. They saw several safes in the living room that appeared to have been broken into,” Sacramento County Sheriff's Office Sergeant Amar Gandhi told Sacramento’s KXTV. Deputies arrested and detained both Wiggins and Beckwith as suspects for theft.

While the two were detained, deputies then searched a vehicle in the garage that was registered to Wiggins, and discovered the 97-year-old woman’s body in the trunk of that car.

“Pretty horrific scene,” Gandhi told KXTV.

According to a statement from the sheriff’s office, further investigation indicated that “Wiggins and Beckwith forced their way inside of her home, looking for a place to stay. When the victim told them to leave, Wiggins beat his grandmother to death. He and Beckwith then placed her body in the trunk of his vehicle.”

The grandson Brian Wiggins is being charged with homicide, the girlfriend Dozsha Beckwith is charged with burglary and being an accessory after the fact. Both have another court appearance tomorrow, January 28.

Related: Four Found Dead In Santa Rosa Senior Community From Apparent Homicide, Senior Community Obviously Shocked [SFist]

Image: Handcuffs and money (Getty Images)