Rohnert Park police investigators have obtained DNA test results confirming that a man who was shot and killed in a standoff with San Francisco police in May was responsible for the bludgeoning death of his mother three days earlier, authorities said.
Dennis Hughes' DNA was found on the handle of a baseball bat used to kill his mother, longtime Rohnert Park resident Dianne Hughes, 66, Rohnert Park Public Safety Detective Sgt. Jeff Nicks said Thursday.
Additional lab tests, Nicks said, confirmed the presence of Dianne Hughes' blood on the soles of her son's shoes and on the keyboard of a laptop computer taken from her home and found at the San Francisco apartment where he died May 9.
"All fingers were pointing to Dennis Hughes," Nicks said, "but we still had to continue the investigation to determine that Dennis Hughes was the actual one that murdered his mother."
Police found Dianne Hughes beaten to death in her Bernice Avenue home on May 8 after a friend and her daughter, a Washington state resident, had been unable to reach her by phone. Investigators believe she was killed two days earlier, Nicks said.
Police learned that her 41-year-old son had been living with her for several months but was disruptive and had been asked to leave.
Detectives were unable to find him in the aftermath of her death, making him "a person of interest" in the investigation. Dianne Hughes' SUV also had been taken, by her son it turned out.
Police found a San Francisco address for the man's ex-girlfriend and went there to find out what she knew, only to come under fire from inside the apartment.
A standoff ensued, with Dennis Hughes holed up inside, shooting through the walls and starting at least two fires.
San Francisco police evacuated the building and cordoned off the road while negotiators tried to talk Hughes into surrendering. He eventually was shot and killed by a police sniper.
The evidence submitted to the state Department of Justice lab came back just this week identifying him as his mother's killer, Nicks said.
You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: