TACOMA, WA - Today a Pierce County Superior Court jury found Sebastian Samuel Levy Aldrete, 50, guilty of murder in the second degree for clubbing his mother to death with a liquor bottle. Maria Aldrete-Levy, 78, died in their home October 16, 2017, after suffering blunt force trauma to her head. She was also strangled.
The jury also deliberated the charge of murder in the first degree but was unable to reach a verdict. Presiding Judge Jerry Costello declared a mistrial on that charge.
On October 16, 2017, at approximately 5:30 a.m., Aldrete called 911 and reported that he and his mother had been attacked by an unknown intruder. Officers responded to 1 St. Helens Avenue, which is a secured apartment building. They noted no signed of forced entry.
Aldrete directed officers to a bedroom where they found his mother’s body. Her face and head were covered in blood and she was not breathing. There was blood spatter and smears of what appeared to be blood on the wall next to her body. Police also found a broken, jagged bottle neck on the floor.
Aldrete told investigators that he was in bed when he heard his mother screaming. He said he jumped out of bed and ran toward her room. He claimed he struggled with someone he saw emerge from the room but he could not describe that person.
Aldrete said he found his mother bleeding profusely from the center of her neck. He said he grabbed towels and applied pressure to her neck. However, the Medical Examiner found no injury to the victim’s neck that would have been bleeding.
The defendant’s two sons were asleep in the apartment at the time of the murder.
Deputy Prosecutors Jesse Williams and Erika Nohavec represented the state at trial.
Sentencing is scheduled for December 7, 2018, at 1:30 p.m.
For more information, please contact James Lynch at (253) 798-6265, [email protected]