A Wealthy Beverly Hills Widow Winds Up Dead Below A Staircase In Her Mansion. Was It Murder?

CBS Los Angeles

Updated on: May 11, 2026

When Beverly Hills Police Detective Mark Schwartz got the call about an unattended death at the home of 67-year-old widow Violet Yacobi, he didn't know what he would find.

Det. Mark Schwartz: Any unattended death like this, we will get called out to … Some are clearly more suspicious … than others. … This one gradually got more and more suspicious.

It was Oct. 10, 2017. Violet's son, Daniel, and daughter, Dina, had told police they found their mother on the marble entryway below the staircase around 7:30 p.m. Responding officers initially suspected it might be a suicide.

Det. Mark Schwartz: The information that we got very early on about possibly being depressed and possibly falling over the railing … those are the things that we showed up with. … Her dog had just died. She had canceled her … cleaning lady …

Violet had just marked the one-year anniversary of her husband's death. But when Detective George Elwell, now retired, arrived at the home, he didn't think she could have gone over the railing. In a crime scene photo, "48 Hours" rendered the body as a graphic to show the position.

In this crime scene photo, "48 Hours" rendered the body as a graphic to show the position of Violet Yacobi's body below the staircase when detectives arrived/Los Angeles Superior Court/CBS News

Erin Moriarty (showing detectives the rendered image seen above): Is that a pretty good description?

Det. George Elwell: Yes ... that's exactly ...

Erin Moriarty: And so, what am I seeing there?

Det. George Elwell: ...where the body was laying … at the time I got there. …

Click here for the full story via CBS Los Angeles Metro, and the complete transcript

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