Great-Grandparents Slain as Boy, 10, Hides in Room

An elderly couple was beaten to death in their Clairemont home as their 10-year-old great-grandson hid in his nearby room and listened to them die, San Diego police said Monday.

The frightened boy did not leave his bedroom until about 8 a.m. Monday, when he discovered his great-grandparents lying in bloodied nightclothes in separate bedrooms and phoned police, San Diego police said.

The couple, whose names were not released pending notification of relatives, were beaten on the head and upper body with a blunt object sometime after 9 p.m. Sunday, when at least two men entered the modest home on Deerpark Drive and started an argument with the elderly man, San Diego police spokesman John Welter said.

The boy ran into his bedroom when he heard a struggle begin, closed the door and did not come out until Monday morning, said Welter.

Police do not know whether the killers knew the boy was in the house during the attack, Welter said.

The boy’s name is being withheld by police. According to neighbors, the boy’s great-grandparents were in their late 70s.

The one-story, two-bedroom home had been ransacked, but police declined to say whether the killings were part of a robbery, Welter said.

Police are also looking for a missing yellow or cream-colored Mercury Monarch with a green passenger’s door. Neighbors said the old man used the car to run errands and would always park it in his driveway.

Aside from releasing a few details, police declined to elaborate on the case.

Residents of the middle-class neighborhood of stucco homes say the slain couple, originally from Norway, had lived in their house for about 25 years and were fixtures in the quiet neighborhood near Tecolote Canyon Golf Course.

They said the boy had been living with the couple all his life. The elderly man, according to neighbors, was retired from General Dynamics’ Convair Division and his wife was partly blind and walked with the aid of a walker.

“He would always be friendly and would stop by and say hello to us in his heavy Norwegian accent,” said resident Colleen Rauch, who lives across the street. “It really is a shame. The little boy is such a nice kid. It is really hitting home and makes you wonder why they picked their house instead of ours.”

“He was a very nice old man who used to help out in the neighborhood by picking up litter, keeping watch on everything and warning people of strangers on the street,” said another resident, who asked not to be identified. “We have never had any problems in the neighborhood before, but now we will have to be extra careful, and double-lock our doors and be aware of who is out there.”

Neighbors also speculated that the usually cautious couple might have known their killers because they opened the doors to them late at night.

The incident was the second slaying at the home of an elderly person since Saturday.

On Saturday, 84-year-old Angela Kleinsorge of Bay Park was found in her home with her throat slashed, apparently after being sexually assaulted, police said. She lived a little more than a mile from the couple killed Sunday night.

Police said the slayings appear unrelated.