Vacaville Man Accused Of Assisting Mother's Suicide Not Covered Under End-Of-Life Law
VACAVILLE, Calif. (CBS13) – A Vacaville man has been arrested for helping his mother die last year. Her body was found in a storage unit with a single gunshot wound to the head on Dec. 7.
"I was devastated," said Walter Edmonson. "[My wife and I] both cried because we knew the people!"
Eric Capitanich, 43, was arrested on Thursday and is accused of helping his 69-year-old mother Diane Capitanich commit suicide. The two rented a Vacaville house together until homeowner Edmonson served them an eviction notice last August.
"I'm not a doctor, of course, but he wasn't fully speedy," Edmonson said. "I mean, he was a little slow. She wasn't really healthy. She looked like she was very frail."
Edmonson told CBS13 he felt bad for the mother and son because they had no place to go.
"The police showed up and the realtor, the locksmith and all that and the sheriff came to the door," he described of the September 6 event. "They said they could not move because she was bedridden."
So he took it upon himself to help them move. Edmonson rented a truck, took them to Motel 6 and then paid their first month's rent at a storage unit on Peabody Road.
"I had suspicions that she might even be living in the storage unit, I don't know," Edmonson said.
Three months later, Vacaville Police found Diane's body inside of the unit with a gunshot wound to the head. Police found handwritten notes from both Eric and his mother that detailed her desire to die and how the two planned to make it happen.
"I've been doing this job for over two decades and I've never seen anything remotely close to this type of case," said Lt. Matt Lydon, Vacaville Police Department.
National Death with Dignity President George Eighmey does not believe Eric's actions in this case could be considered legal under California's 'End of Life Option Act.'
"First of all, it's murder," he said. "He committed a crime, whether you call it assisted suicide, or out and out murder, a homicide, whatever, it does not apply with the End of Life Option Act."
In order to qualify for end of life drugs, you must be mentally competent, diagnosed with less than six months to live and then make oral and written requests to your doctor.
Edmonson said Eric seemed devoted to his mother and doesn't believe he would harm her.
"He didn't appear to be that way to me," he said. "Although she was a very demanding person , she was very dependent upon him. All day long."
Capitanich will be charged with assisting a suicide and if convicted, he could face up to three years in jail. A preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 26.