The tragic murder of a Californian couple last year has led police to arrest and charge their son, professional poker player Ernest Scherer III.
It is believed that Scherer III murdered his parents in their Pleasanton, California country club home and then staged a burglary. His motive, say the police, was financial gain.
The 31 year old Ernest Scherer III allegedly beat and stabbed his parents, Ernest Scherer Jr. and Charlene Abendroth in their home.
Police say that the poker player drove from Las Vegas to Pleasanton in March last year, killed his parents and then drove all the way home to Orange County.
He is charged with two counts of murder, with extra charges for murder for financial gain and multiple murders. Scherer III could possibly face the death penalty if found guilty.
Surveillance photos at the scene of the crime at the Castlewood Country Club in Pleasanton show that Scherer’s car was clearly visible at the time of the murder, and that in all likelihood, the couple’s son made the entry look like a staged burglary.
Judge Jeffrey Horner spent 50 minutes outlining the evidence against Scherer III and ordered him to stand trial on September 4th.
The judge noted that whoever killed the elderly couple must have been “a very angry person.”
Ernest Scherer Jnr. was stabbed six times, while his wife showed 12 stab wounds. Their decomposed bodies were found on March 14th, 2008 although police believe they were killed a week earlier.
Police suspect that Scherer III had gotten himself into serious financial debt from living a lifestyle that was above his means in Las Vegas and Southern California.
Scherer III stood to inherit over $1.5 million on the death of his parents.
In his closing argument on Tuesday, the prosecutor, David Stein told the court that Scherer III was “living a very expensive lie” by residing in a home worth over $1 million in Orange County with his wife and child. On the other hand, he lived up the poker life in Las Vegas, dating several women while he resided part time in Nevada.