A 70-year-old Dana Point man has been charged with the financially motivated murder of his mother in Corona del Mar in 1994, court records obtained Thursday show.
John Henry Van Uden III is charged in an arrest warrant issued Oct. 26 with murder, with a special circumstance allegation of killing for financial gain.
Van Uden’s 76-year-old mother, Frances M. Van Uden, was found beaten to death in her Corona del Mar home on Keel Drive on March 5, 1994. Anxious neighbors called police because they had not seen her in several days, and the family had issued a $50,000 reward for the capture of her killer.
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and Newport Beach police Chief Jon Lewis scheduled a news conference for Thursday afternoon to discuss the arrest and charges.
Last week would have marked the 100th birthday of the mother of three and grandmother of five.
–City News Service