ESCONDIDO — An Escondido man has been arrested in connection with the death of his stepmother, authorities announced Tuesday.
Christopher Ryan Trudell, 43, was taken into custody Sunday by San Diego County sheriff’s deputies and booked into the San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of murder, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.
The investigation began May 28 when deputies from the Sheriff’s Office’s San Marcos Station responded to a residence in the 1600 block of Citrus Hills Lane in an unincorporated area near Escondido. Deputies found the resident, 78-year-old Marytrese Comer, dead at the scene.
Although there were no obvious signs of trauma, the Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit assumed responsibility for the investigation due to what authorities described as “suspicious circumstances.”
The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office took custody of Comer’s body to determine the cause and manner of death.
Trudell is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday in North County Superior Court.
