Man in Swiss custody for allegedly killing father in Santa Cruz
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - A man is in custody in Switzerland and is awaiting extradition back to the United States on Thursday for allegedly killing his nonagenarian father in the Santa Cruz home that the two shared.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office received a report on May 18 that 90-year-old Robert Smallwood was missing after relatives attempted several times to contact the man to no avail, according to a sheriff’s department statement.
The following day, SCCSO detectives and members of the department’s search and rescue team went to Smallwood’s house on Jarvis Road, where they found the man dead inside.
An investigation into Smallwood’s death revealed he had been murdered, according to the sheriff’s department. The manner of his death was not revealed.
The SCCSO and the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office conducted a joint investigation into the murder and identified the suspect as Robert Smallwood’s son, 54-year-old James Smallwood.
Investigators learned that Robert and James were living together in the home on Jarvis Road at the time of the murder. Authorities also learned that James had fled to Switzerland after the murder, but before the sheriff’s department discovered his father’s body.
"Investigators worked with the Swiss government, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to locate James Smallwood and take him into custody," the sheriff’s department said in a prepared statement.
James Smallwood is currently being held in Swiss custody and is awaiting extradition back to Santa Cruz, where he will be booked into jail on suspicion of murder, elder abuse, stealing a vehicle and several counts of identity theft.
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The Source: Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office