| For Immediate Release Case # TBA
January 11, 2010 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
MAN CHARGED WITH MURDERING 84-YEAR-OLD AFTER RAPING, TORTURING, AND STABBING HER WITH INTENTION OF STEALING HER CAR
SANTA ANA – A 25-year-old man has been charged with murdering an 84-year-old woman with the intention of stealing her car after breaking into her home, raping, torturing, and stabbing her. Anthony Darnell Wade, Los Angeles, is charged with one felony count of special circumstances murder and one felony count of elder abuse. The special circumstances include murder during the commission of rape, torture, robbery, and burglary. These charges make the defendant eligible for the death penalty. Wade is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow, Jan. 12, 2010, in Department
CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana. The time is to be determined.
At approximately 12:00 p.m. on Jan. 10, 2010, Wade is accused of walking through an Anaheim neighborhood on Paradise Road and looking in windows with the intention of finding a vulnerable victim from whom he could steal a car. The defendant is accused of breaking into the home of 84-year-old widow Bessie Whyman through a broken window after seeing the victim sleeping in a bedroom.
Wade is accused of raping Whyman, tying her up by her hands and feet, and punching and kicking the victim. He is accused of torturing and murdering her by repeatedly stabbing her with a kitchen knife. Wade is accused of then taking a blanket and covering the victim, leaving her body in the living room. He is accused of ransacking the victim’s home and stealing her purse and car before fleeing the scene and driving to San Bernardino.
Once in San Bernardino, the defendant is accused of being in possession of Whyman’s stolen credit cards at a Food 4 Less store. Wade is accused of getting into a physical altercation with an employee after becoming angry that the staff would not accept the card with the name “Bessie Whyman” on it. Staff pepper-sprayed the defendant and called the police.
Police officers in San Bernardino determined that Whyman was from Anaheim and contacted the Anaheim Police Department (APD) for a welfare check. At approximately 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010, APD officers discovered the victim after entering Whyman’s home through an unlocked back door.
APD is investigating this case. Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact APD Detective Rodriguez at (714) 765-1944 or Supervising District Attorney Investigator Ed Berakovich at (714) 347-8492. Senior Deputy District Attorney Howard Gundy of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
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