San Diego

Daughter Killed Mom in Mission Valley Homicide-Suicide: SDPD

Crystal Vasquez, 34, is accused of shooting of her mother, Maria Kelly, 66, on July 20, leaving her body in an office building in Mission Valley for two days; Vasquez killed herself once her family and police learned of Kelly's killing

New details have surfaced in the mysterious killing of a woman whose body was found two months ago inside a Mission Valley office building: her daughter is suspected in the slaying.

On July 22, Maria Kelly, 66, was found dead in her accounting office on Camino Del Rio South with a single gunshot wound, San Diego Police Department (SDPD) homicide investigators have said.

When Kelly's body was found, family members alerted the victim's daughter, Chula Vista resident Crystal Vasquez, 34. Vasquez drove to the office and, shortly after arriving at the scene, walked into the restroom of a nearby business.

Vasquez never returned.

When another family member walked into the bathroom, Vasquez was dead. Police said she killed herself with a single self-inflicted gunshot.

On Tuesday, SDPD detectives identified Vasquez as Kelly's killer.

Police said she shot her mother two days before the discovery of the body -- on July 20 -- and left her body in the utility room of her office.

The next day, police said Vasquez fraudulently cashed a check written from her mother's bank account.

When Vasquez arrived at the scene of her mother's killing on July 22, she learned surveillance video might have captured what happened at her mother's office. Shortly thereafter, she killed herself, SDPD officials said.

Per the SDPD's investigation, surveillance cameras did capture Vasquez at the Mission Valley office at the time of Kelly's murder.

The handgun Vasquez used on herself was the same weapon used to murder Kelly, police confirmed.

Kelly was reported missing three days prior to the day she was found in her office. Kelly's husband looked for her at her workplace on July 21, but her office door was locked, and no one was around.

The next day, he and another family member brought a spare key to enter the office and, there, made the grisly discovery.

Initially, SDPD homicide detectives said Vasquez was not suspected in the death of her mother.

No further details were released.

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