Man Found Dead After Fistfight Earlier in Week

A 39-year-old man was found dead by his mother in their Mission Viejo home Saturday and a 74-year-old man who had a fight with him earlier in the week is being questioned as a suspect in his death, police said.

The older man, whose name was withheld pending the outcome of the police investigation, got into a fistfight Tuesday night with the victim, Steven Linscott Hammett, officials said.

Hammett lived with his mother in the gated retirement community of Costa del Sol. His injuries from the fight were serious enough to warrant a stay in Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, police said, but Hammett insisted on leaving after being treated in the emergency room.

When the mother went to wake her son Saturday morning, he was dead in bed, said Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino.

Hammett had “very obvious signs of trauma” to the upper torso and bruises on his face, Amormino said. The cause of death will not be known until after an autopsy today.

“We’re not sure if he died of the beating or some other natural causes,” Amormino said. “We’re going to wait for results of [today’s] autopsy to determine the cause of death before any possible charges are filed.”

The fight occurred Tuesday evening when Hammett’s mother, whose name was not released, called her son to dinner. Hammett was on the computer and refused to leave it, police said. The mother and son argued and the mother called the 74-year-old man, a friend who lives nearby.

After the fight, Hammett called police and pressed assault charges against the older man.

Police sought to question the older man Tuesday, but could not locate him. w He was being questioned in his home late Saturday afternoon, Amormino said.