Elderly Couple Found Dead in South Gate Home
An elderly South Gate couple were found stabbed to death Sunday morning, and sheriff’s deputies said they have detained a suspect in the killings.
Elmer Benson, 79, and Gladys Benson, 70, were found about 9:30 a.m. Sunday when neighborhood children went to the Bensons’ house on Liberty Boulevard to borrow a typewriter, said Deputy Benita Nichol.
The children were able to see one of the victims through a window, Nichol said, and called authorities.
Sheriff’s Lt. Charles Brassfield said the Bensons’ neighborhood is a sedate residential area on a main thoroughfare. “It’s a fairly quiet area of our city,” Brassfield said.
Authorities were investigating the motive behind the stabbings; there were no obvious signs of forced entry or theft, Brassfield said.
“We generally get eight to 10 homicides a year [in South Gate] but most of those are gang related,” Brassfield said. “This was different.”
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