Sheriff’s investigator enters crime scene Wednesday,
May 21 on Bonneau Road. Ryan lely/Sonoma Valley Sun
A 20-year-old Chico man postponed entering a plea Friday in connection with the murder of his grandfather last week on Bonneau Road.
The victim, 77-year-old Robert Ferris Deming, was killed by a close-range shotgun blast to the back of his head while he was watching television last Tuesday night, said Sonoma County District Attorney spokesperson Donna Edwards. Sheriff’s Lt. Robert Giordano said Deming’s grandson, 20-year-old Sean Patrick Mooney was found at the scene after having called 911 around 9:21 p.m. to report that two suspects had shot his grandfather and fled in a vehicle.
But after assembling evidence and witness reports – and interrogating Mooney most of Tuesday night – investigators began to doubt Mooney’s story, Giordano said.
“There’s evidence that he planned this event,” Giordano said, adding that the case is still being investigated. “We’re just trying to put the details together, but there appears to be money involved in the motive.”
Mooney was charged Friday with murder, elder abuse, and possession of a stolen shotgun. He requested that his plea entry be postponed until tomorrow.
Giordano said that Mooney, who was spending the night at Deming’s property, appeared to have acted alone and had “planned out a statement to try to take the focus off of him.”
He added that Mooney came voluntarily to the sheriff’s headquarters in Santa Rosa Tuesday night.
Bonneau Road was closed to all but local traffic until just before 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. A neighbor who declined to give her name said Deming was a longtime resident who suffered from undisclosed medical difficulties. She said his wife had died about five years ago but his daughter and son-in-law lived with him in the small yellow house in Bonneau Road’s 400 block. The neighbor added that the near-ceaseless Big Bend winds prevented her from hearing anything Tuesday night.
“He’s certainly not someone you’d expect to find murdered,” she said.
