Son accused of strangling father in Rancho Santa Fe home to be arraigned

VISTA (KUSI) — A man accused in the beating and choking death of his 71-year-old father in the victim’s Rancho Santa Fe home is scheduled to be arraigned Friday at the Vista Courthouse. 

Leighton Dorey IV, 39, was arrested Wednesday in a wooded area near Idyllwild in Riverside County. 

The wife of Leighton Dorey III found his body in a back room at their house in the 17200 block of La Brisa on returning from an outing shortly before 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Related Link: Son arrested for murder of father in Rancho Santa Fe home

An autopsy determined that the victim died of blunt-force trauma to the head, neck and upper body, as well as strangulation, sheriff’s homicide Lt. Kenneth Nelson said. The death was ruled a homicide.

Investigators are unsure where the suspect lives, though he apparently recently returned to the United States after living in France for years, Nelson said.