Fair Oaks woman and son arrested for allegedly killing their roommate
FAIR OAKS – A mother and son were arrested after their roommate was found dead in their home on Kenneth Avenue in Fair Oaks Wednesday.
Ruth Cecile Weiser, 55, was arrested on charges of murder, and her son, Joseph Jon Thomason, 25, was charged with being an accessory to murder. The victim's identity has not yet been released.
Residents on Kenneth Avenue in Fair Oaks are surprised by the news of the homicide and say this sort of thing never happens on their street. Resident Michael Bond was out for a walk when he came upon the crime scene.
"This is like the first time—I've lived here 23 years, never seen anything like this at all," he said.
It's a typically quiet neighborhood by his telling.
"All of us who garden, we swap vegetables. We care for each other. We watch for each other's pets, and so on," he said.
But it was disrupted by Wednesday's call of a suspicious death at one of the properties.
"We don't have really any history at that home of any repeated calls for service," said Sgt. Amar Ghandi, a spokesperson for the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office. "So no red flags in that regard. It's a great area...great place to be, so it's unusual."
Neighbors spoke throughout the day of a particular home that they had concerns about.
"People coming and going, different odd hours and whatnot," Bond said. "It's out of character with the neighborhood. It's not like anything else around here."
That home is the one in question for the investigation. Ghandi said at least one gunshot was fired and struck the victim, investigators are still unsure of how many rounds were fired. Adding to the strangeness of the story is how the call came in.
"Someone actually walked to the hospital for a complaint of some other medical issue and told hospital staff that someone was dead at their residence," Ghandi said.
Neighbors are now trying to figure out what to do next on a quiet stretch of road in Fair Oaks.
"It's like a small town and this was totally out of character," Bond said.