Sheriff: California Man Decapitates Elderly Parents and Their Dog Inside Home

A man is accused of decapitating his elderly parents and their dog at the couple’s home in San Juan Capistrano, California.

The suspect in the case is identified as 41-year-old Joseph Brandon Gerdvil, Fox 11 reported Thursday. He has been “charged with two counts of special-circumstances murder of multiple murders.”

An image shows the suspect:

The victims were identified as 77-year-old Ronald Walter Gerdvil and 79-year-old Antoinette Gerdvil, whose bodies authorities found at their residence along with the body of their pet dog.

In a press release Wednesday, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department detailed the incident:

On Tuesday, July 9, 2024, at 7:36 am deputies were dispatched to a domestic assault near the 32000 block of Alipaz Street in the City of San Juan Capistrano.  Minutes later, deputies arrived to the dispatched address and located a horrific scene which included the decapitated and mutilated bodies of Ronald and Antoinette Gerdvil, as well as a decapitated dog belonging to the married couple.

A few minutes later, dispatch told deputies a man covered in blood was chasing a maintenance worker in the area and allegedly stole the worker’s golf cart and took off. When the suspect was found near a bike trail exit not long after the notification came in, a deputy made contact with the suspect and a “deputy-involved shooting occurred,” the agency noted.

Officials rendered aid to the suspect and he was taken to a hospital, where he is in stable condition. The sheriff’s department said additional enhancements will probably be added to the suspect’s charges.

Per Fox 11, it was not immediately known if Gerdvil had a weapon on him when the shooting happened.

Aerial video footage shows law enforcement at the scene:

One neighbor claimed he saw the man fighting with his father recently, while another neighbor said, “He had a drug issue. That’s why he lived there and they kept him there.”