Video: Man suspected of killing, decapitating parents charges Calif. deputy with metal tool before fatal OIS

By Hunter Lee
The Orange County Register

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — 41-year-old man suspected of murdering his parents and their dog in their San Juan Capistrano mobile home last month was carrying a water meter when he was shot and injured by a deputy, according to body-worn camera footage released on Friday, Aug. 23.

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Around 7:30 a.m. on July 9, a 911 caller reported that she had received text messages from a family member that contained graphic images of other relatives severely injured, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. The woman asked authorities to check on her elderly relatives who lived near the 32000 block of Alipaz Street inside San Juan Mobile Estates.

Deputies arrived to a horrific scene, with 79-year-old Antoinette Gerdvil and 77-year-old Ronald Walter Gerdvil, along with the couple’s dog, found headless and mutilated inside the home.

“There’s a head on the counter,” a deputy told dispatch in the critical incident video.

Joseph Brandon Gerdvil was identified as the family member who sent the text messages, and had fled before authorities arrived. He had a history of violence and was suffering from mental health issues, the caller told 911.

Shortly after, a maintenance worker reported that a bloodied man had assaulted him, stolen his golf cart and fled on a nearby bike trail.

A Community Services officer located Gerdvil in the cart and engaged in a pursuit, with Gerdvil stopping the cart at one point to throw a shovel at the officer’s vehicle. The officer remained in her vehicle and was not injured.

The pursuit ended on Calle Arroyo, nearly three miles from the mobile home park, when he stopped the golf cart and began to advance towards a deputy. The deputy ordered Gerdvil, who was armed with the water meter, to stop moving and get onto the ground multiple times before shooting him at least twice.

Gerdvil sang the lyrics to Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It” while authorities performed life-saving measures on him, according to body-worn footage.

He was booked on suspicion of the two killings and remained in the hospital on Friday.

A motive for the killings was still not determined on Friday, and it was not clear what weapon was used in the killings.

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