A Willits man who was charged Tuesday with torturing and murdering his 84-year-old grandfather told family members he had unburdened them by getting rid of the victim, who suffered from Alzheimers disease.
Kenneth Wilkinson, 22, "told us he took him somewhere," said Steven Tharp, the victim's son-in-law. "He didn't say where. He seemed to think he was doing us a favor."
Tharp and his wife had been caring for Richard "Mel" Wilkinson, a retired lumber mill worker, for more than three years at their home in Little Lake Valley east of Willits.
Mel Wilkinson died of multiple blows, according to an autopsy conducted Tuesday, Mendocino County Sheriff's authorities said.
He was dragged behind a pickup truck for several miles, from his home on East Hill Road to the embankment in the Pine Mountain area where his body was dumped, law enforcements sources said.
Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster declined to give details of the homicide but called them "lurid."
His office charged Kenneth Wilkinson with murder and a special allegation of torture. The charges potentially carry a death sentence, but Eyster said he will ask for life in prison without parole.
Kenny Wilkinson had drug and alcohol abuse problems and may have been under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of his grandfather's death, Tharp said.
He appears to have consumed 10 bottles of beer before the homicide, he said.
Wilkinson was unemployed and bounced among the homes of different family members in the Willits and Covelo areas, Tharp said. He most recently was living in a 5th-wheel trailer on the nearly 10 acres Tharp rents from a family member. Tharp, his wife Melora and the victim lived in residence on the property.
Kenny Wilkinson had been acting increasingly strange in the last eight months, said his cousin, John Tharp, who also lives on the Willits property.
Steven Tharp said he rarely left his father-in-law with anyone else. But he'd decided to accompany his wife to a local casino Saturday night. They asked Kenny to watch his grandfather, as he'd done previously. John and another son who lives on the property were in Ukiah at a roller derby.
The couple was gone about two hours when they got a call from one of their sons, who said Mel Wilkinson was missing. He'd wandered off in the past and they initially thought that was what happened. They began looking for him but found evidence of a possible crime.
When Kenny returned to the house, they questioned him. He initially told him he'd just gone to get clothing at his mother's home but later admitted to taking his grandfather from the house, Tharp said.
Kenneth Wilkinson is expected to be arraigned today in Mendocino County Superior Court. He's being held without bail.
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