Larkfield Man Suspected Of Trying To Beat His Mother To Death With Cast Iron Pans

LARKFIELD (CBS SF) -- A Larkfield man was arrested Tuesday afternoon on suspicion of attempting to kill his mother by beating her with several cast iron frying pans at their home Monday afternoon, a Sonoma County sheriff's sergeant said.

The 74-year-old victim was violently attacked in a Larkfield home north of Santa Rosa that she shared with her 56-year-old son Robert Churich, Sgt. Cecile Focha said.

The woman went screaming for help to her neighbors' house in the 200 block of Darbster Place and the neighbors called 911, Focha said.

Around 2:30 p.m. deputies found the woman bleeding from her face, neck and arms. She told deputies her son struck her repeatedly with a cast iron pan and left in her car, Focha said. The victim was rushed to a hospital.

Churich became enraged and attacked his mother because she was demanding he move out of the house, Focha said.

Churich hit his mother with three different cast iron frying pans as she lay helpless on the floor, and as he broke each pan during the assault he used another and left his mother for dead, Focha said.

The sheriff's office issued a statewide alert for Churich and the stolen vehicle. They contacted Churich's girlfriend Barbara Soiland who told deputies she had not seen him or the stolen car, Focha said.

Churich used his mother's credit card at businesses in San Francisco early this morning, Focha said. Deputies were searching for the car this afternoon when a Healdsburg police officer spotted it driving slowly with two people inside on Healdsburg Avenue, Focha said.

Deputies made a high-risk traffic stop, found Churich and Soiland in the car and arrested Churich without incident, Focha said.

Churich was booked in the Sonoma County Jail for attempted murder, elder abuse, criminal threats, false imprisonment, preventing his mother from using her cellphone to call police and vehicle theft, Focha said.

He is being held under $1.5 million bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday afternoon in Sonoma County Superior Court.

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