A former caregiver who helped a disabled man in his Irvine home crashed a minivan into the garage of the house Monday morning, Aug. 5, before going inside and stabbing his former client to death, authorities said.
Police were called to the home on Whistling Swan near Wetstone about 2:15 a.m. after the victim’s current caregiver found him bloody and unresponsive, Irvine police spokesman Kyle Oldoerp said.
Officers saw a gold Honda Odyssey minivan had crashed into the garage door. They entered the home and found the body of John Alexander Bash III.
A motive for the fatal stabbing was not known.
Irvine officers went looking for the driver. Around 3:25 a.m., Aaron Matthew Shindle, 47, was found walking in the area of West Yale Loop and Stone Creek South, less than a half-mile away. He was the registered owner of the minivan, which had Florida license plates and had words written on a dusty back window that were crossed out and said, “Your last (undecipherable) chasing me around.”
Shindle, who had lived in Tampa, Florida, but in recent times was nomadic, raised the knife and went toward the cop and was shot to death, Oldoerp said.
An investigator looks over the scene on Stone Creek South and West Yale Loop In Irvine on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. A man with a knife was shot by police and later died, He is also connected to another crime scene less than a mile away where a person died inside a house, police spokesman Kyle Oldoere said. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Irvine Police Officer Trevor Fedoruk looks for evidence with his police dog near Stone Creek South and West Yale Loop In Irvine on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024 after a man with a knife was shot by police. The suspect, who later died, is also connected to another crime scene less than a mile away, a spokesman said. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Crime Lab investigators look over the scene on Stone Creek South and West Yale Loop In Irvine on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. A man with a knife was shot by police and later died, Irvine Police Spokesman Kyle Oldoere said. His car is also connected to another crime scene where a minivan crashed into a home less than a mile away. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A message written on the back window of a minivan that crashed into an Irvine home reads: Your last (unreadable) chasing me around.” A person was found dead inside the home. Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Officials investigate a home in the area of Whistling Swan and Wetstone in Irvine, CA on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024 after a minivan crashed into a house and a man was found dead inside. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Officials investigate a home in the area of Whistling Swan and Wetstone in Irvine, CA on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024 after a minivan crashed into a house and a man was found dead inside. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Investigators collect evidence from a home near Starflower and Whistling Swan in Irvine, where a car rammed into a house. One person was found dead inside. The car is registered to a man who was shot by police and later died less than a mile away on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Flowers and a note of condolence adorn the outside of an Irvine home on Tuesday, Aug. 6, a day after a man was killed inside by a former caregiver (Photo by Mark Evans/SCNG)
1 of 8
An investigator looks over the scene on Stone Creek South and West Yale Loop In Irvine on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. A man with a knife was shot by police and later died, He is also connected to another crime scene less than a mile away where a person died inside a house, police spokesman Kyle Oldoere said. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Expand
At the scene of the officer shooting, police found a blood-stained knife with a long blue handle.
Shindle was a former caregiver for Bash, police said, but it wasn’t known how long ago he stopped working for the victim.
“My sister woke up about 2 a.m.,” Andrea Valdespino, who lives across the street, told OC Hawk, a news organization that sometimes works with the Southern California News Group. “She heard the minivan crash into the garage; shortly after, I awoke, we went outside and saw the van crashed into the home and officers updated us to what happened — there was a deceased person.”
Hours after the crash, Lindsey Myers stood outside the house and told ABC 7 that the victim was his brother-in-law.
“My brother-in-law was an amazing person, but he was also a disabled person,” Myers said. “He had an accident six or seven years ago, and he had a spinal injury and he was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He’s a defenseless victim, and he just had no chance to defend himself.”
Originally Published:
