SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A 67-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder after his girlfriend was found dead Friday night at a south Sacramento home, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.
Wendell Celestine was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail and was ineligible for bail, according to the office’s Oct. 24 news release.
Deputies responded about 11 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, to a home in the 4900 block of El Paraiso Avenue at the request of Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District personnel.
Fire crews had initially responded for medical aid after Celestine reported finding his 56-year-old girlfriend unconscious, sheriff’s officials said.
Crews observed signs of trauma on the woman, along with broken glass and damaged furniture inside the home. The Sheriff’s Office said the conditions were consistent with a possible physical altercation.
Deputies detained Celestine when they arrived. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, and homicide detectives and crime scene investigators took over the investigation.
Celestine and the woman had previously been married and divorced but had resumed dating, officials said.
The Sheriff’s Office said the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office would release the woman’s identity. The release did not specify a cause of death.