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The son of a couple brutally killed in their Castlewood home waived extradition from Las Vegas late last night and is now in Santa Rita Jail.
Ernest Scherer III, 30, arrived by plane at midnight, escorted by authorities. He was taken for questioning by Alameda County Sheriff’s investigators to San Leandro, Sgt. J.D. Nelson confirmed just prior to his arrival.
Scherer was charged Tuesday with two counts of murder and two special circumstances clauses that could lead to the death penalty for the deaths of his parents at their country club home in March 2008, according to Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff.
Scherer III was arrested in Las Vegas on Monday in connection with the brutal murders of Ernie Scherer, Jr., 60, and his wife, Charlene Abendroth, 57. Detectives believe the couple had been dead inside their Castlewood Country Club home for about a week before they were found by a country club employee acting on a request by the couple’s daughter, who was concerned. When the employee looked in a window of the residence, he could see Scherer Jr.’s body, who along with his wife, were brutally attacked with a sharp object.
Orloff said the special circumstances clauses filed against Scherer III are multiple murder and murder for financial gain. He will be arraigned in the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland, Orloff said.
Scherer Jr. dabbled in playing poker for small amounts of money but made his living in real estate. The son gambled on a more professional level, and had total earnings of more than $300,000, according to multiple gambling websites. Alameda County Sheriff’s investigator Scott Dudek said the son was known to have debts.
As funeral services were held for the couple at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Pleasanton, where Abendroth was a devoted member, suspicion clouded around the son. Scherer III attended those services and was said to have shown little emotion while other family members and friends were visibly distraught.
The same day as the services, investigators served a search warrant on the son’s home in Brea, Calif. in Orange County and collected evidence.
Investigators sussed out other avenues, including Scherer Jr.’s involvement as an active Republican fundraiser and a former San Ramon Valley school board member who was recalled, but kept returning to the son, officially calling him a “person of interest,” but not going as far as calling him a suspect.
They also focused their investigation into a reported security video showing a red Chevy Camaro seen in the neighborhood at the time of the killings. Residents of the relatively quiet and shellshocked country club community were asked if they had seen that vehicle. Department of Motor Vehicle records show that color, make and model car registered to Scherer III.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
