Crime & Safety
Son of Former Hamden Councilman Killed in California
The 35-year-old's death was ruled a homicide. His badly beaten body was found by a newspaper delivery person early Sunday morning.
HAMDEN, CT — A former Hamden man was found beaten to death early Sunday morning in Lakeside, California.
Trammel Joseph Rizzuti, 35, was found unresponsive lying on a sidewalk at about 4:20 a.m. by a newspaper delivery person.
Rizzuti was the son of former Hamden Legislative Council member Frank Rizzuti, who was also the town’s Parks and Recreation director for many years, according to the New Haven Register.
When Rizzuti was found in the 10400 block of Aquilla Drive in Lakeside, California, he was suffering from trauma to his upper body and emergency personnel were unable to revive him, according to Lt. Kenneth Nelson of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.
The San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Monday that Rizzuti died from “sharp force trauma.”
His death was ruled a homicide and a suspect, Lance Benson, 29, was arrested later in the day on Sunday.
Authorities didn’t disclose what led them to arrest Benson, who is being held without bail at San Diego Central Jail and was due to be arraigned on Wednesday, according to sheriff's online inmate records.
Friends fondly remembered Rizzuti to the New Haven Register and said that he moved to California four years ago and his father had been trying to get him to move back to Connecticut.
Trammel Rizzuti was involved in a tragic accident in 1991 when he was 10 years old and his bicycle was struck by a car and he suffered a brain injury that left him in a coma for a month, according to the Register. His mother, Helen, died of a heart attack just a couple of months prior to the accident.
Read more at the New Haven Register here.
With additional reporting by Maggie Avants and City News Service
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