Violet Evelyn Alberts was discovered dead in her Santa Barbara residence in May 2022. Investigators found out that she was a target of a murder-for-hire scheme because the suspects wanted to take over her multi-million dollar house. This information was provided by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff.
Police in Santa Barbara, California, apprehended four individuals in a murder-for-hire scheme that caused the death of a 96-year-old woman who was getting ready to celebrate her upcoming birthday by making cookies.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown during a press conference on Thursday explained that the situation involved financial exploitation against the victim, Violet Evelyn Alberts. Her caretaker called the police to her upscale Montecito home on May 27, 2022. Law enforcement officers found her deceased in her bed with ingredients for her birthday cookies on the kitchen table. They mentioned that a window in her home had been broken. The medical examiner later determined that the cause of death was suffocation.
Initially, detectives were puzzled about who would want to harm Alberts, whom Brown referred to as a beloved person in her community. However, investigators focused on 48-year-old Pauline Macareno after discovering that in 2020 she had committed fraud to gain control of Alberts' multi-million dollar home and assets, according to Brown. Alberts had run out of money and someone recommended Macareno to provide assistance. Macareno carried out a reverse mortgage scheme and also forged documents, as stated by Brown.
Allegedly, Macareno wished that Alberts would die naturally so she could take over the home. The issue? Alberts continued to live.
“In the eyes of Pauline Macareno, Mrs. Alberts was living too long,” Brown said. “In other words Mrs. Alberts was 96 going on 97. I think the assumption was she would probably die quickly and then she would have obtained her home by fraudulent means. So the acceleration of her death was presumably the motivation.”
From left: Pauline Macareno, Henry Rostomyan and Henry Rostomyan are accused of taking part in a murder-for-hire scheme that took the life of 96-year-old Violet Evelyn Roberts at her home in Santa Barbara, California. A fourth suspect, Harry Basmadjian, is not pictured. (Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office)
Authorities say Macareno hired Harry Basmadjian, 58, Henry Rostomyan, 33, and Ricardo MartinDelCampo, 41, to carry out the murder. Detectives found out that MartinDelCampo and Rostomyan conducted a “scouting trip” a couple days before the killing.
“This crucial discovery revealed the planned nature of the crime, highlighting the perpetrators’ deliberate efforts to survey Alberts’s home and plan their vicious and reprehensible actions,” Brown stated.
Macareno has already been found guilty and given a six-year prison sentence for fraud in Alberts’ case, but now faces a charge of soliciting to commit murder . The other three suspects have been arrested in the past two months and are charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. While in federal custody for an unrelated charge, Basmadjian experienced a medical emergency and is essentially brain dead, according to Brown.
Brown mentioned that Alberts did not have any relatives living close by but was adored by others in the local area.
“Even though she was old, she continued to be active and involved, and she was known for being friendly and sociable,” he said.
The suspects are scheduled to appear in court on March 14.