A 67-year-old Sacramento man was arrested on suspicion of murder after his girlfriend was found dead on Friday night at a south Sacramento home, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office said on Saturday, October 24.
Source: Sacramento County Sheriff's Office via Public Safety News
Wendell Celestine was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail and was ineligible for bail, according to the sheriff's office's October 24 news release. The arrest is an allegation; Celestine has not been convicted of any crime in this case.
Deputies responded at about 11 p.m. on Friday, October 23, to a home in the 4900 block of El Paraiso Avenue at the request of Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District personnel. Fire crews had initially responded for medical aid after Celestine reported finding his 56-year-old girlfriend unconscious, sheriff's officials said.
Crews observed signs of trauma on the woman, along with broken glass and damaged furniture inside the home. The sheriff's office said the conditions were consistent with a possible physical altercation.
Deputies detained Celestine when they arrived. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, and homicide detectives and crime scene investigators took over the investigation, the office said.
Source: FOX40 via Bay Area Daily News
The sheriff's release did not specify a cause of death. The Sacramento County Coroner's Office will release the woman's identity, officials said; she is not named in this report because officials had not released her name in the accounts available at publication.
Celestine and the woman had previously been married and divorced but had resumed dating, officials said. The investigation is continuing, according to the sheriff's office.