Suspect admits killing mother after quarrel, affidavit says

New details are emerging about what sparked a violent incident inside a Stony Point Road condominium in September that left a 63-year-old woman dead and her son facing a potential death sentence.

Christopher Anthony Lavis, 42, has pleaded not guilty to murder, torture and other charges that trigger a life-without-parole sentence or capital punishment. He is to appear in court in February for a preliminary hearing.

Investigators believe Lavis repeatedly stabbed his mother, Connie LaSalle, and tortured her with kitchen shears and what prosecutors have described only as a "Roman knife." LaSalle's body was found wrapped in five blankets in the living room on Sept. 27, two weeks after friends began to worry about her because they couldn't reach her.

After his arrest, Lavis admitted to Santa Rosa police Detective Mark Mahre that he killed his mother because she didn't want him staying with her any longer, according to court documents.

"He provided specific details as to the date, time and circumstances surrounding the incident," states the affidavit submitted to get a judge's permission to search county records about Lavis. "His description of the details, including the types of instrument(s) used to injure his mother during the incident, were consistent with the facts learned thus far."

Lavis told detectives that he killed LaSalle several hours after he arrived at her condo Sept. 11, according to the affidavit.

Though considered a potential suspect from the beginning, Lavis wasn't arrested until Oct. 10 when he apparently tried to leave the San Francisco bayside restaurant Rainforest Café without paying for his meal.

Lavis is an unemployed computer technician who had a minor criminal history linked to drug use. He had stayed with his mother off and on for years, friends said.

On Sept. 11, he arrived on his mother's doorstep saying he had nowhere to go and had been denied temporary housing from Sonoma County. Although his mother wasn't happy with the arrangement, she allowed it, according to Lavis' statement to police. He slept for a while, but awoke to find his mother fed up. She wanted him to leave.

The pair argued, he told police, and the fight escalated to physical violence. Police said they found large pools of blood in a bedroom and near a patio door in the condo LaSalle shared with her two cats.

According to court documents, county Human Services workers confirmed Lavis had applied for and was denied benefits. The county provided seven pages of documents showing interactions between Lavis and public assistance program officials.

"I believe he killed his mother after she attempted to make him leave her residence," district attorney investigator Tim Dempsey wrote in an affidavit. "I believe he committed the act of violence because he needed housing and had already been refused housing by the Sonoma County Human Services Department."

Lavis graduated from high school in Santa Rosa and attended classes at Santa Rosa Junior College before earning an associate degree in computer operations from the Computer Learning Center of San Francisco.

He worked at National Bank of the Redwoods from 1998 to 2004, designing the bank's original Web site and helping troubleshoot computer problems for employees. Later, he worked short stints at several companies, including Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates, Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital and Barclays Global Investors.

He was arrested in April 2005 on three misdemeanor charges of possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia. The case was dismissed, according to court records. He was arrested again on similar charges in March 2006.

LaSalle retired in 2005 after 19 years as an operations specialist for Exchange Bank, working in the operations center on Aviation Boulevard.

A friend of Lavis' said his mother supported him through his difficulties with drugs and unemployment, paying his bills and sacrificing to help him.

Lavis is being held without bail. A preliminary hearing is set for Feb. 13, after which a judge will determine if there is enough evidence to hold him for trial on the murder charge and torture allegations.

You can reach Staff Writer L.A. Carter at 568-5312 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.