Hayward Woman With Mental Illness Accused of Murdering Mother

A Hayward woman who has been diagnosed with mental illness was charged with murder today for the beating and stabbing death of her 66-year-old mother on Monday afternoon, prosecutors said. Dominique Zazueta, 31, was arraigned by video from a hospital this afternoon on the murder charge stemming from the death of her mother, Linda Zazueta, at the house in the 2800 block of Mercury Avenue in Hayward where Zazueta lived with her mother and her 14-year-old daughter.

In addition to murder, Zazueta is charged with using a deadly weapon, specifically a sharp instrument, and inflicting great bodily injury on a vulnerable victim because her mother was over the age of 60. She has another hearing scheduled Thursday to be assigned an attorney and possibly enter a plea, prosecutors said.

Hayward police Inspector Robert Lampkin wrote in a probable cause statement that when police encountered Zazueta at the South Hayward BART station just before 2 p.m. on Monday her face, arms and clothing were soaked and covered with blood. Lampkin said Zazueta had a three-inch cut on the inside of her hand but the amount of blood on her appeared to be more consistent with more major injuries. Lampkin said when police asked Zazueta what happened and if anyone needed help, she replied, “My mom.”

Lampkin said Zazueta then spontaneously said, “I feel that all of this is not my fault. If they knew I was sick they should have helped me.”

Police then went to the family’s house on Mercury Avenue and discovered Linda Zazueta had been beaten and stabbed to death, according to Lampkin. When Dominique Zazueta was interviewed by police, she said she thought she hurt her mother but claimed that she didn’t remember anything, Lampkin wrote.

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• Woman Arrested on Suspicion of Killing Mother in Hayward

Family members told police that Zazueta has been diagnosed with mental illness and hadn’t been consistent with taking medication that was prescribed to her that would have combated the negative effects of her mental conditions, Lampkin said. Zazueta is being held without bail at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.

By Bay City News

Photo Credit: Hayward Police Department