A circular saw. A severed head. Walls covered in plastic — and a bathtub coated with traces of blood.
That was the grisly scene police uncovered when investigators entered the home of a missing elderly man in the Outer Mission last month.
Prosecutors described the “ruthless killing and dismemberment” of the man authorities believe is 73-year-old Benedict Ching in court records filed Monday in the murder case against Ching’s daughter and her husband.
Stephanie Ching, 35, and Douglas Lomas, 44, are accused of beheading the man before boarding a flight to China on May 20 with their two children in an alleged attempt to flee the country.
The couple was arrested on a warrant upon landing in Beijing, China and returned to the U.S.
On Monday, Stephanie Ching and Lomas appeared in court at the Hall of Justice for the first time.