Orange County prosecutors Friday released more information on the case against a 23-year-old man accused of fatally shooting his mother in Fullerton on the Fourth of July.
Emmanuel Messiah Wesley was charged Thursday with murder with a sentencing enhancement for the discharge of a gun causing death.
Wesley was accused of killing 61-year-old Theresa Jones.
Wesley’s city of residence was not provided.
Police officials on Thursday referred a request for details to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, which did not release more information until Friday.
Jones was reported missing July 7 when she failed to pick her grandchild and was not returning calls from family, prosecutors said. The victim’s body was found in the passenger seat of her car in a parking lot of a church in Fullerton, prosecutors said.
Jones had two gunshot wounds to her back, prosecutors said.
Police recovered video surveillance footage showing Jones driving to the Fullerton Police Department on the Fourth of July about 2:45 p.m. Wesley got out of the backseat after his mother slumped over and he got behind the wheel and drove away with the victim, prosecutors alleged.
Wesley pleaded not guilty Thursday and is next due in court July 24 for a pretrial hearing in the North Justice Center in Fullerton.