Mary Karacas
VENTURA COUNTY — On Sunday afternoon, July 17th, Ventura County Sheriff deputies assigned to the Simi Valley Police Department rolled into a Simi Valley neighborhood following a 911 Emergency call requesting help with what the SVPD Watch Commander report indicated was “an unresponsive man” inside a private residence.
The responding officers entered the Anastasia Avenue home to discover 84-year-old Salvatore Orefice on the floor, dead from an apparent gunshot wound.
While officers were at the scene, 75-year-old Mary Karacas, arrived at the home and identified herself as Orefice’s housemate. According to Simi Valley Police Commander Roy Jones, Karacas admitted to investigators “that she had shot Orefice during an altercation.”
Jones further indicated that Orefice and Karacas were boyfriend and girlfriend living in the home together, “but they were moving out.”
The home had apparently been on the market pursuant to their intention to vacate the premises, as the reporting party was the new home ownder who had arrived to find “an open door,” and the body of Orefice in one of the bedrooms, whereupon she called the police.
Pursuant to the on-scene investigation and the statements proffered by Karacas, she was taken into custody, arrested, and transported to Ventura County Jail where she was booked on a charge of first degree murder with the enhancement of having used a firearm in the commission of a crime. She remains in custody with her bail set at $790,000.
Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking
