SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - A Carmel Valley resident was behind bars Wednesday on suspicion of killing a 73-year-old family member at the home the two women shared. Officers found the elderly woman dead in the home after a welfare check.
Police and paramedics rushed to the 3700 block of
for a welfare check, after a man called 911 around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, concerned about an elderly woman inside a home.
When officers knocked on the front door, there was no response. They heard a woman talking and a dog barking. When they opened the door, they found 51-year-old Lara Epstein of San Diego in the front living room. She led police to the body of a 73-year-old woman in another room.
"She was calm not frantic and was making rambling statements. I don't know if that shock or some type of mental illness or not," said Lt. Paul Rorrison with SDPD Homicide.
Detectives have not found a weapon yet and don't know how exactly how she died.
"The victim does have blunt force trauma but also laceration type wounds," continued Lt. Rorrison. "As far as we know from the witness check that we've done nobody heard anything and those are directly adjacent condos to this one."
The victim's name was withheld pending family notification.
Based on the preliminary investigation, Epstein was arrested on suspicion of murder, according to Rorrison. She has since been booked into the Las Colinas Detention Facility.
A medical examiner will perform an autopsy to determine the victim's cause of death.
Rorrison asked anyone with additional information to call police at (619) 531-2293, or to contact
at (888) 580-8477.