Rasp
Senior Editor
80-year-old women was beaten and robbed; she has died :rip:
Police: Few leads in brutal murder
80-year-old victim's family mourns 'vibrant woman' who was robbed, beaten
Betty Elinburg was the picture of health and self-reliance, even after she turned 80 last year.
But in what one Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department detective called "the most brutal case" he's ever investigated, somebody broke into Elinburg's south Modesto home in August and severely beat her as she slept.
Elinburg suffered extensive head injuries, Detective Jon McQueary said. She died May 7 at Vintage Faire Rehabilitation & Nursing.
"It looks like a burglary gone bad," McQueary said.
"In this area, we're
used to one gangster getting killed by another gangster. We don't see too many of these cases, thank goodness."
The Sheriff's Department has made no arrests, and detectives have few leads, McQueary said.
Family members said they last spoke to Elinburg on the telephone Aug. 28.
Three days later, they called the Sheriff's Department, worried because Elinburg was not answering her phone.
Deputies visited the home, on the 1500 block of Lassen Avenue, on Aug. 31, McQueary said.
They found Elinburg in her bed, badly injured and curled into a fetal position, McQueary said. She was conscious, but nonresponsive.
"All she would say is, 'Don't hurt me,'" McQueary said.
Investigators believe Elinburg was beaten with a blunt object, then left alone for at least a day before deputies found her.
She never recovered, her family said.
"If you would have seen her before this happened, you'd have thought she was 60
, not 80," said her grandson Butch Elinburg. "She was a very active, very healthy, very vibrant woman."
After the attack, however: "The head injuries were so severe ? she would know you one day and then the next day she didn't. It was almost like severe dementia. Before that, there was nothing wrong with her ? I mean, nothing."
Elinburg lived in Stanislaus County for 78 years, and in her Lassen Avenue home for more than 40 years, Butch Elinburg said.
She was completely self-reliant, he said. She grew roses in her garden and loved to crochet, he said.
When Elinburg's husband, Marvin, died in 2003, family members urged her to move, fearing the neighborhood had become too dangerous. Elinburg refused.
"Most of our family grew up in that area," Butch Elinburg said. "She was the last one to hold out."
Elinburg's family said it is difficult to comprehend such a brutal attack. Mixed with their sorrow, Butch Elinburg said, is a "very deep an
ger."
"It was so senseless," he said. "She was incredible, a very loving and generous lady. ? I hope this wakes somebody up and they report it so the people or persons who did this will be locked away. It's an unbelievable crime."
McQueary agreed, describing the murderer as a deviant breed of criminal.
"This kind of thing takes a different level of anger," he said. "I don't know ? this is not just a pull-the-trigger case. ? To see the crime scene, it was pretty horrific. The first detectives there were shocked and stunned."
Police: Few leads in brutal murder
80-year-old victim's family mourns 'vibrant woman' who was robbed, beaten
Betty Elinburg was the picture of health and self-reliance, even after she turned 80 last year.
But in what one Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department detective called "the most brutal case" he's ever investigated, somebody broke into Elinburg's south Modesto home in August and severely beat her as she slept.
Elinburg suffered extensive head injuries, Detective Jon McQueary said. She died May 7 at Vintage Faire Rehabilitation & Nursing.
"It looks like a burglary gone bad," McQueary said.
"In this area, we're
used to one gangster getting killed by another gangster. We don't see too many of these cases, thank goodness."
The Sheriff's Department has made no arrests, and detectives have few leads, McQueary said.
Family members said they last spoke to Elinburg on the telephone Aug. 28.
Three days later, they called the Sheriff's Department, worried because Elinburg was not answering her phone.
Deputies visited the home, on the 1500 block of Lassen Avenue, on Aug. 31, McQueary said.
They found Elinburg in her bed, badly injured and curled into a fetal position, McQueary said. She was conscious, but nonresponsive.
"All she would say is, 'Don't hurt me,'" McQueary said.
Investigators believe Elinburg was beaten with a blunt object, then left alone for at least a day before deputies found her.
She never recovered, her family said.
"If you would have seen her before this happened, you'd have thought she was 60
, not 80," said her grandson Butch Elinburg. "She was a very active, very healthy, very vibrant woman."
After the attack, however: "The head injuries were so severe ? she would know you one day and then the next day she didn't. It was almost like severe dementia. Before that, there was nothing wrong with her ? I mean, nothing."
Elinburg lived in Stanislaus County for 78 years, and in her Lassen Avenue home for more than 40 years, Butch Elinburg said.
She was completely self-reliant, he said. She grew roses in her garden and loved to crochet, he said.
When Elinburg's husband, Marvin, died in 2003, family members urged her to move, fearing the neighborhood had become too dangerous. Elinburg refused.
"Most of our family grew up in that area," Butch Elinburg said. "She was the last one to hold out."
Elinburg's family said it is difficult to comprehend such a brutal attack. Mixed with their sorrow, Butch Elinburg said, is a "very deep an
ger."
"It was so senseless," he said. "She was incredible, a very loving and generous lady. ? I hope this wakes somebody up and they report it so the people or persons who did this will be locked away. It's an unbelievable crime."
McQueary agreed, describing the murderer as a deviant breed of criminal.
"This kind of thing takes a different level of anger," he said. "I don't know ? this is not just a pull-the-trigger case. ? To see the crime scene, it was pretty horrific. The first detectives there were shocked and stunned."
