Pair Found Dead In Trailer Park

"RED BLUFF, CA — A 63-year-old Red Bluff woman found in a trailer park this week was strangled to death in what Tehama County sheriff’s investigators believe was a murder-suicide.

"`That is our theory based on evidence at the scene and contact with family members and interviews with other people,` Assistant Sheriff Phillip Johnston said today.

"An autopsy performed on Rena Detto showed the `cause of death as homicide with the primary cause being strangulation,` the department reported.

"Detto’s identity had not been previously released.

"Investigators believe James B. Barker, 60, who had been taking care of Detto and lived with her at the Casa Grande Drive residence, killed the woman and then took his own life, possibly by an overdose.

"Johnston said there was evidence at the scene that supports that theory.

"The two people had been dead for some time when sheriff’s deputies found them o Monday. They had responded to a a call by a citizen, who reported that Detto and Barker had not been seen for several days.

"The date of death was not immediately available, Johnston said."

Source: Corning Observer...