A 35-year-old ex-con is in custody, along with his mother and her boyfriend, in connection with the March 2020 murder of a woman with whom he was intimately involved, Long Beach police reported Friday.
According to police, 44-year-old Terry Limas was allegedly “violently assaulted” by Brandon Ritter, who was taken into custody Thursday, along with Jo Ann Ritter, 53, and 57-year-old Morris Everett, at or near their Long Beach residences.
Limas was discovered unresponsive in her home in the 1300 block of Taper Street about 10:40 p.m. last March 30 by another resident, according to the police department.
Homicide detectives were called to the scene based on “suspicious circumstances,” and an autopsy determined Limas’ death was a homicide, police said.
The autopsy listed the cause of death as “combined effects of multiple traumatic injuries, smothering, traumatic asphyxia (and) methamphetamine,” the coroner’s office reported.
“Homicide detectives believe Brandon Ritter was engaged in an intimate relationship with the victim when he violently assaulted her, resulting in her death,” police alleged in a statement Friday.
Everett and Jo Ann Ritter are accused of helping conceal evidence of the crime, according to police. They were booked into jail on suspicion of being accessories after the fact, and are each being held on $1 million bail.
Brandon Ritter, who was booked on suspicion of murder and being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm, is being held on $2 million bail, police said.