Woman Arrested in Murder of Kensington Resident

UPDATE: Aug. 14, 1:23 p.m.

Kensington police arrested a woman connected to a Monday, police said.

Diane Wyn Sydenham is being held in custody on suspicion of murder after police arrested her at about 1 a.m. Tuesday on the 700 block of Kains Avenue in Albany, according to a police news release.

Police have linked the 56-year-old woman to the murder of Kensington resident James E. Durkin, who was found dead in his home on the 600 block of Coventry Road Monday morning when an officer conducted a welfare check of the residence, the release said.

According to the release, police arrested Sydenham based on statements and physical evidence located at the crime scene. She is being held in the Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez, CA on $1 million bail.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Contra Costa County Deputy District Attorney Harold Jewett said Durkin was stabbed, and that the knife was still in his chest when police found him.

Jewett also told the Chronicle that Durkin and Sydenham were friends, and that Sydenham had been a guest in Durkin's house before.

Kensington police said the investigation continues.

Tuesday afternoon, Jewett said the district attorney's office had not yet filed charges against Sydenham.

Jewett said an autoposy of Durkin's body was performed Tuesday morning. Though results are not back yet, Jewett said Durkin was probably dead for days before police found him.

One of Durkin's neighbors, Rita Brown, said she didn't know him very well, but that she did occasionally run into him on the street.

"The few times we talked to him he was very interesting," Brown said. "He was really into philosophy, studies, things like that."

Durkin seems to have lived in a unit under the main residence of his Coventry Road address. One man who did work on the residence described Durkin as a "nice old guy" who spent a lot of time on the computer.

Another man, who was aquainted with Durkin and asked not be identified, said Durkin was a psychotherapist.

"I head he had a wacky girlfriend," the man said.

The description on a Twitter account listed for James E. Durkin says "Princeton BA, Rutgers PhD, Psych License,Group Therapy Particpative Inquiry, Communitarian Medical models Poet."

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.