96-year-old killed in murder-for-hire plot while prepping birthday cookies, cops say
Before a 96-year-old widow was killed in a murder-for-hire plot, she was preparing to bake cookies for her upcoming birthday, California deputies say.
Violet Evelyn Alberts’s caretaker found her dead inside her Montecito home on May 27, 2022, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said in a March 7 news conference.
Pauline Macareno was arrested in June 2022 in relation to fraud in Alberts’s case, deputies said in a March 7 news release.
Now, three men have been arrested in relation to Alberts’s death, a “murder for hire scheme,” according to deputies.
‘Vibrant’ 96-year-old
“Without any immediate family nearby, Violet relied on her friendships and connections within the neighborhood, through which she achieved a sense of belonging with a tight-knit community,” Brown said.
The widow, a “vibrant” and a “cherished figure” in the community, was “active and engaged” despite her age, Brown said.
“She was known for her warm demeanor and social nature,” Brown said.
Though she started having challenges with “memory and cognition,” Brown said her “spirit remained undaunted.”
“This was evident in her plans to celebrate her upcoming birthday by baking fresh cookies,” Brown said.
‘Heinous case of murder’
When deputies responded to Alberts’s home, Brown said they found her dead in her bed with ingredients for baking cookies on a table.
Alberts died by asphyxiation, and her death was ruled a homicide, according to Brown.
Brown called Alberts’s death a “particularly heinous case of murder.”
As the investigation went on, Brown said “the case was revealed to be a tangled evil web of financial exploitation against the victim.”
In 2020, Brown said Macareno “capitalized on Alberts’s vulnerability.”
Macareno is accused of orchestrating “a series of transactions, including forging documents and establishing fraudulent entities to gain control over Albert’s assets unlawfully,” Brown said.
Further, detectives found evidence that Alberts was “targeted in a murder-for-hire scheme,” Brown said.
Two of the suspects, Ricardo MartinDelCampo and Henry Rostomyan, are accused of scouting Alberts’s home three days before she was killed, Brown said.
“The discovery of this trip established the deliberate intent between the events leading up to Alberts’s untimely death,” Brown said.
After her arrest, Macareno was given a six-year prison sentence, Brown said.
Harry Basmadjian, 58, of Van Nuys, was arrested on Jan. 2; Rostomyan, 33, of Tujunga, was arrested on Feb. 27; and MartinDelCampo, 41, of Los Angeles, was arrested on March 5, according to deputies.
Rostomyan and MartinDelCampo are being held without bail on charges of murder and conspiracy to murder in relation to Alberts’s death, deputies said.
While in federal custody for an unrelated charge, Basmadjian had a “life-threatening medical emergency that left him totally incapacitated with a grim prognosis,” deputies said.
Additional charges against Macareno are pending, Brown said.
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