The body of a California man was found buried in the backyard of his home days after he complained his roommate had ransacked his bedroom.
Leona Hodo says she last spoke to her son Bradley Minder on October 12, shortly after he told her his housemate had gone into his room and vandalized it.
“He wanted to let me know that he is back at the house that he was cleaning up his room, because the man broke into his room and destroyed a lot of stuff,” she told ABC 7. “He told me he was going to be OK, said, “I love you mom, you are my rock,” and that was the last time I talked to my son,” she said.
Police discovered his body three days later when officers responded to the home in Riverside, about 55 miles from Los Angeles, after Minder hadn’t been seen or heard from for days.
There, police found his roommate, 48-year-old Richard Thomas Martinez. Martinez began making statements claiming to have killed his roommate, cops said. Officers detained the man while searching the home and found remains buried in the backyard.
The home belonged to Martinez’s grandfather and the two men did not know each other well.
“Bradley didn’t really know him, the guy was on some bender or something. He wasn’t right in the head ... drugs — he was constantly smoking meth and stuff,” Vinnie Casella, Minder’s brother, told the outlet.
Minder had planned on leaving the home once he found another room to rent.
“The day after the cops arrested the guy, he thought he would be safe and not have to worry about the guy being out, and he came back to all his stuff destroyed,” Casella added.
Martinez had originally been arrested for disorderly conduct and possessing a controlled substance. He was accused of assaulting his grandfather and also destroying his brother’s room before the murder, the outlet reported.
Martinez will be arraigned on murder charges on November 4.
Hodo described her son as loving, adding he had a “heart of gold.” His family has set up a GoFundMe account to help with his funeral expenses. It’s raised over $5,000 out of a $10,000 goal.
