New homeowner finds body of 75-year-old woman’s slain boyfriend inside
The scene was like a modern twist on William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily,” which concludes in a musty bedroom with the cadaver of an old beau lying on a bed.
Having paid $430,000 on June 22 for a house in the 6200 block of Anastasia Street in Simi Valley, according to property records, the new homeowner was eager to move in.
But when the unidentified buyer went to the home on Sunday afternoon, around 4:15 p.m., and walked through an open door into a bedroom, they found the body of Salvatore Orefice, 84, his body covered and lying on a bed.
The gruesome discovery led to the arrest of the dead man’s girlfriend, Mary Karacas, said Simi Valley police Cmdr. Roy Jones.
After hearing from the person who purchased the home, detectives went there and called Karacas – asking that she meet them there, Jones said.
Karacas, 75, told detectives she and Orefice had gotten into an altercation, he said. At some point during the fight, Karacas told detectives, she shot him. She was arrested on suspicion of murder, Jones said.
Orefice and Karacas had 30 days to move out of the home after selling it, Jones said.
Jones said investigators don’t know exactly how long Orefice had been dead.
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