Practically two years after Violet Evelyn Alberts was discovered useless, detectives say they’ve uncovered an intricate fraud scheme that culminated in a murder-for-hire plot concentrating on the 96-year-old, who was discovered useless in her Montecito house.
Santa Barbara County sheriff’s detectives had already arrested 48-year-old Pauline Macareno in June 2022 on suspicion of elder abuse and fraud. However on Thursday, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Invoice Brown mentioned the investigation had revealed a “notably heinous case of homicide.”
Macareno, posing as an actual property agent, used cast paperwork and fraudulent entities to realize management of Alberts’ cash and residential in Montecito, Brown mentioned. However as soon as the fraud scheme was put in place, Brown mentioned, Macareno got here to a grim determination.
“Within the eyes of Pauline Macareno, Mrs. Alberts was dwelling too lengthy,” Brown mentioned. “The belief was that [Alberts] would die rapidly, after which [Macareno] would have obtained this house by way of fraudulent means.”
On Thursday, Brown mentioned the 22-month investigation into the scheme led detectives to the arrests of three extra suspects believed to have performed a task within the lethal plot.
At 96 years outdated, Alberts continued to have an energetic life in her Montecito group, the place Brown mentioned neighbors knew her for her heat and sort demeanor.
However the widow had fallen into monetary hassle, depleting her financial savings and needing a strategy to meet day-to-day expenditures. In some unspecified time in the future, Brown mentioned, she got here into contact with Macareno, who was presupposed to be engaged on a reverse-mortgage deal for Alberts however as a substitute arrange a scheme to fraudulently acquire management of her property and residential.
On Might 27, 2022, deputies discovered Alberts in her mattress, killed by asphyxiation, he mentioned. A window close to the rear door of the house was shattered.
Detectives initially discovered little to no leads in what Brown referred to as a baffling “whodunit,” however investigators quickly traced a “tangled net of monetary exploitation” that led detectives to Macareno and three males.
Deputies arrested 58-year-old Harry Basmadjian of Van Nuys, 33-year-old Henry Rostomyan of Tujunga and 41-year-old Ricardo MartinDelCampo within the alleged murder-for-hire plot.
Brown wouldn’t say how Macareno knew or got here into contact with the three males however mentioned the investigation revealed premeditation and planning of Alberts’ killing.
Rostomyan and MartinDelCampo traveled to Montecito in an effort to survey Alberts’ house, Brown mentioned.
Rostomyan and MartinDelCampo are being held in Santa Barbara County jail on fees of homicide and conspiracy to homicide, in accordance with jail data. Basmadjian was in federal custody on the time of his arrest in an unrelated cost.
Basmadjian, earlier than being arrested on this case, suffered a medical emergency in federal custody and has been left “incapacitated,” Brown mentioned.
Officers are nonetheless reviewing the case, and extra fees gainst Macareno could also be filed, Brown mentioned.
