A man has been found buried in his backyard just days after complaining his housemate had ransacked his room.
Bradley Minder, 31, was discovered in a freshly dug grave on October 15 at his rented home in Riverside, California.
His housemate, Richard Thomas Martinez, 48, has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Martinez reportedly made statements suggesting he had killed Minder.
The tragic discovery came after Minder’s colleagues reported not seeing or hearing from him for several days.
Bradley Minder
GoFundMe
Police say Martinez killed Minder during an argument, though the exact cause remains unclear.
Minder’s mother, Leona Hodo, revealed her final conversation with her son.
“He wanted to let me know that he is back at the house that he was cleaning up his room, because the man broke into his room and destroyed a lot of his stuff,” she told ABC 7.
The exchange occurred on October 12, just three days before Minder’s body was found.
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“He told me he was going to be OK, said, ‘I love you mom, you are my rock,’ and that was the last time I talked to my son,” Hodo added.
Minder had reportedly been planning to leave the house once he found a new place to rent.
Martinez, who was staying at the house intermittently, was not well-known to Minder. The property belonged to Martinez’s grandfather.
Minder’s brother, Vinnie Casella, described Martinez as unstable.
Richard Thomas Martinez, 48, has been arrested on suspicion of murder
Riverside Police Department
“Bradley didn’t really know him, the guy was on some bender or something,” Casella told ABC 7.
“He wasn’t right in the head … he was constantly smoking meth and stuff,” Casella added.
Martinez had previously been arrested for disorderly conduct and possession of a controlled substance.
He was also accused of assaulting his grandfather and ransacking Minder’s room prior to the murder. £8,200 goal.
Minder’s family described him as “the gentlest soul to ever walk this Earth”.
In a statement to KTLA, they said: “He was a kind friend and a deeply loyal son, brother and uncle. His family meant more to him than anything in the world.”
Minder was the eldest child who helped raise his younger siblings with his mother remembering him as loving, with “a heart of gold”.
The family has set up an online fundraiser to cover burial expenses. At time of writing, it had raised £4,200 of its
Martinez is due to be arraigned on murder charges on November 4. He is being held without bail.