FRESNO – A man was arrested in connection to his elderly mother’s death in August, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.
Sheriff’s detectives booked 59-year-old Steve Alfred Minamoto of Squaw Valley into the Fresno County Jail on Tuesday, October 6. He faces a felony count of elder abuse in connection to the death of his 81-year-old mother, Kaoru (aka Kay) Minamoto. Squaw Valley is a community east of Fresno in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Kings Canyon National Park.
Deputies had responded to a home on the 1000 block of Silver Lane in Squaw Valley after receiving a report of an injured woman. The person who had called 911 had been passing through the area, and saw Kay Minamoto lying on the ground near a man who turned out to be her son. The elderly woman was unconscious and had visible signs of injury, the sheriff’s office said. Responding paramedics transported her to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, where she later died.
During an investigation into Kay Minamoto’s death, detectives learned that she and her son had gotten into an argument in the driveway of their home. The argument turned into a physical altercation, at which time Steve Minamoto pushed his mother, causing her to fall down and strike her head on the ground, according to the sheriff’s office.
A judge issued a warrant for Minamoto’s arrest on October 5 and he was arrested the following day on elder abuse charges. His bail was set at $525,000.
