Slaying Suspect Sent to State Hospital

A 79-year-old Littlerock man who allegedly killed his wife with an ax because of financial troubles was found incompetent Thursday to stand trial pending further evaluations.

Hollis Glenn Medford was ordered to Patton State Hospital in Norwalk by San Fernando Superior Court Judge Harold E. Shabo after a competency hearing on Wednesday, said Victoria Pipkin, spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office. A progress report on Medford’s condition is scheduled to be brought back to the court July 19 to determine whether a murder trial will be held, Pipkin said.

Medford was arrested May 20 after he called the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department at 4:30 a.m. to say he had just killed his 71-year-old wife, Vonia Medford. The woman’s body was found in the bedroom of the home they had lived in for 15 years in the 8800 block of East Avenue T-2.

Neighbors said that Hollis Medford was retired from the aerospace industry, had worked in real estate and that his wife was a retired nurse. They said the couple had been married many years, have three grown children, and shared the one-acre property with three dogs.

Criminal proceedings under the direction of Deputy Dist. Atty. Carlos Chung are suspended until further action.