A 30-year-old man is facing a life term next month when he is scheduled to be sentenced for killing his 84-year-old grandfather six years ago in Cypress, according to court records obtained Wednesday.
David Jacob Tenorio was convicted Tuesday of first-degree murder with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon in the Feb. 12, 2019, killing of David Tenorio Sr.
Tenorio, who turns 31 on Saturday, was scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 14.
The caretaker for the grandparents, who lived with the defendant at 6804 Ossabaw Court, arrived for work at about 8 a.m. the day the victim was discovered and was surprised the door was locked since the victim usually left it open for her, Senior Deputy District Attorney Devin Campbell said in a trial brief.
The caretaker, who was hired to look after the victim’s wife as she struggled with “severe dementia,” called the victim’s phone but it went straight to voicemail and the land line didn’t work, Campbell said.
The caretaker found another way into the home and got to work, but found the victim later when she went to check on him in his room, the prosecutor said. The grandfather had a pillow covering him and “the room was covered in blood,” Campbell said.
The senior Tenorio suffered a fracture to his neck consistent with strangulation, Campbell said.
Police sought the defendant, who was seen later at a cafe in Huntington Beach where he arrived on foot and asked the employees he knew there for a ride to his mother’s home, Campbell said.
The defendant left without a ride and was tracked down at his mother’s home in Garden Grove, Campbell said.
Police found the victim’s wallet in the defendant’s backpack along with clothes, personal hygiene items, two $100 bills and a gold ring, Campbell said. Investigators also found the victim’s blood on the defendant’s socks, Campbell said.
Investigators also found the defendant’s DNA on a bloody belt at the crime scene, Campbell added.
When he was left alone during questioning by police the defendant said to himself that “his grandfather was possessed,” according to Tenorio’s attorney.
“Mr. Tenorio indicated that his actions occurred to prevent the end of the world,” his attorney Tom Nocella of the Alternate Defender’s Office said in court papers.