PHOENIX (AP) — A Phoenix adult care home's owner has been arrested in the beating death of a resident who police said was mentally ill and incapacitated due to a brain injury from an automobile accident.
Police said 52-year-old Valera Catuna was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of second-degree murder in the October 2020 death of 53-year-old William Griswold.
A police probable-cause statement said Griswold's death was initially reported as due to natural causes but that investigators determined that Catuna repeatedly struck Griswold during an argument. Online court records didn’t list a defense attorney for Catuna who might comment on his behalf about the allegations.
