Motive remains unknown in caretaker’s fatal attack on retired Occidental doctor

Investigators said it remained unclear Monday what drove an in-home care provider last week to beat to death his elderly client, a retired Occidental doctor, and then flee to San Francisco, where the caretaker died in police custody.

The mystery surrounding Filimoni Raiyawa’s actions Thursday left unanswered questions about whether physical or mental health problems might have played a role in the brutal outburst that fatally injured Sol Cohen, 96, and prompted Raiyawa later to fight with San Francisco police.

Friends and acquaintances of Raiyawa, 57, said anger and ill will were incompatible with the individual they knew to be a gentle, loving man devoted to the Christian faith and to the cause of social justice in his native land of Fiji.

“(For) this guy to suddenly turn from a human being to an animal in that day - he was not himself,” said Tevita Korodrau, a friend and co-worker in the local Fijian democracy movement.

An autopsy on Raiyawa was conducted Friday in San Francisco, with results still pending, the Medical Examiner’s Office said.

But there were no preliminary results relayed to Sonoma County sheriff’s investigators that might explain his sudden behavioral change or violence, Lt. Carlos Basurto said.

“We can never really find motive, now that he’s deceased,” he added.

Raiyawa, a former ironworker who stood 6 feet tall and weighed 265 pounds, had been caring for Cohen, a retired pediatrician, for about two years when something went terribly awry early Thursday morning and he apparently attacked the frail, older man in his bed.

Another caretaker at the house found Cohen severely injured shortly before 5 a.m. and called 911 to report the man had fallen, but authorities said his injuries suggested an intentional assault and identified Raiyawa as the suspect.

Raiyawa, who left the house minutes before their arrival, made his way to San Francisco, where he rear-ended another driver around 5:30 a.m. The other driver reported that he was muttering incoherently in the aftermath, talking about God and God’s will, police said. He fought with two responding police officers, injuring both of them.

It took up to five officers responding as backup to subdue Raiyawa. They took him to the ground and, despite his continuing resistance, got him handcuffed, authorities said.

Raiyawa then suffered a medical emergency and stopped breathing, police said. Life-saving measures were unsuccessful, police said, and Raiyawa died at the scene.

Cohen succumbed to his injuries that night at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

Basurto said detectives were still investigating, trying to gain insight into Raiyawa’s “recent state of mind, or something in his history” that would explain the attack.

“We lost two lives here,” Korodrau said. “Two beautiful lives.”

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com.