Caregiver Found Guilty in Deadly Push of Elderly Woman in Oceanside

Surveillance video of the altercation showed the victim being pushed through a door and down three porch steps

A caregiver was found guilty of elderly abuse and murder Thursday for an incident caught on video that showed a 94-year-old woman pushed through a screen door, resulting in her death.

A jury found William Sutton, 68, guilty of second-degree murder and elderly abuse resulting in death for the April 16, 2016 incident that led to Margaret Wood's death 11 weeks later. 

Sutton cared for 93-year-old Marian Kubic at her Oceanside home. On the day of the incident, Kubic was paid a visit by her best friend, Wood. 

NBC7’s Dave Summers reports from the Vista Detention Center with more on the death of 94-year-old Margaret Wood of Oceanside and the arrest of her caregiver.

Surveillance video captured by cameras next door showed Wood being pushed through Kubic's front door and down three porch steps. She stumbled backward onto the concrete and cracked her skull and broke her nose. 

The man who pushed Wood was identified as Sutton, who had been Kubic's caregiver for two years. He was arrested on murder charges on July 11, two days after Wood's death.  

Kubic died less than two months after the altercation and before Sutton's murder trial could begin, but she recorded testimony for the trial while in hospice care. 

Sutton faces 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on December 2017.

William Sutton, 66, was ordered to stand trial on attempted murder and elderly abuse charges stemming from an April incident where surveillance cameras caught him pushing a 93-year-old woman through a screen door.
Contact Us