Daughter, spouse face charges in dismemberment

“What’s alleged in this case is very disturbing, and we’re going to do everything we can to bring justice,” said Alex Bastian, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, who would not elaborate on the details of the case.

Stephanie Ching’s court appointed attorney, Jose Pericles Umali, spoke briefly after the hearing.

“She’s obviously not guilty and nothing has been shown yet to show that she’s guilty,” Umali said. “She’s under arrest and charged with a very serious crime. It’s also a very sad crime in that her father was the victim. What her participation is has not been presented in any court of law.”

Lomas’ lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Kleigh Hathaway, left without speaking to reporters.

The unsettling case began on May 15 when Benedict Ching didn’t show up for work and couldn’t be reached by phone, Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai wrote in a court motion that sought to keep the defendants in jail without bail.

Four days later, Ching’s sister and employer went to his home at 161 Del Monte St. in the Outer Mission neighborhood, where the defendants also lived with their two young children, Talai wrote.

Lomas cracked the door and told them the family was ill and said Benedict Ching had left the day before, then closed the door, refusing to let them in, Talai said.

The next day, a police officer came to check on Benedict Ching and was let in by his sister who had a key to his home, prosecutors said. The officer noticed the home was messy before seeing “a large cardboard blockade” at the entrance to the kitchen, officials said.

When the officer went into the bathroom, he found cardboard and plastic lining the walls and the tub, which contained a bloody circular saw, and “unknown biological matter in the open toilet bowl,” Talai said.

Police then got a search warrant and returned to find “human body parts, including a severed head, inside the refrigerator,” he said.

Investigators later found plastic sheeting, rolls of duct tape, latex gloves and other tools inside the home, prosecutors said.

Earlier that morning, Stephanie Ching and Lomas had boarded a flight with their two children bound for China, officials said. When they landed in Beijing, they were picked up by Homeland Security Investigations agents and taken to Washington, D.C.

They were extradited to San Francisco and booked into jail on Saturday. Umali declined to disclose who is caring for the children, saying he did not want to jeopardize their safety and privacy.

The defendants are due back in court on Thursday for arraignment.