Man charged with killing his elderly stepmother
A man is facing a murder charge after being accused of stabbing his 91-year-old stepmother, who was found mortally wounded at his home late last month, authorities said.
Michael Richard Guertin, 70, of San Jose was arrested March 31, shortly after police were called to his home in the 500 block of Mill Pond Drive, near Curtner Avenue and Highway 87.
According to a San Jose police investigative summary accompanying the criminal complaint, officers were summoned after Guertin dialed 911 to report “that someone was dying.”
Guertin met responding officers and directed them to the kitchen, where Vivienne Ann Guertin was found on the floor with injuries to her head and abdomen, lying next to a bloody wooden baton, police wrote. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Michael Guertin reportedly told officers “I don't want to talk about it” as they entered the home, according to police. Officers reported seeing blood on his hands and a bloody tactical knife on the kitchen counter.
Investigators also obtained footage from a nearby doorbell camera that showed Vivienne Guertin arrive at the Mill Pond Drive home at 12:20 p.m. on March 31, 13 minutes before the 911 call, and Michael Guertin open the front door two minutes after that call. Police wrote that no one else was seen entering or exiting the home in that span.
A potential motive was described in the police summary: Detectives interviewed a relative of the victim who said Michael Guertin's father recently had been hospitalized, and that Vivienne Guertin was going to ask her stepson for a copy of her husband's living trust so she could move him to a care facility.
Michael Guertin was arrested there, police said. Records show he was criminally charged April 3 and arraigned the next day, and is currently being held without bail at the Santa Clara County Main Jail.
The death marked the 11th homicide of the year investigated by San Jose police.
Anyone with information for investigators can contact the SJPD homicide unit at 408-277-5283 or email Detective Sgt. Rafael Varela at 3638@sanjoseca.gov or Detective Jose Montoya at 3644@sanjoseca.gov. Tips can be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408947-7867 or at siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.