Veteran detective, teenage daughter slain; son arrested

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – A veteran San Diego child-abuse detective and her 18- year-old daughter were stabbed to death Monday at their Rancho Penasquitos home, allegedly by the policewoman's son, authorities reported.

Patrol officers responding to a report of a woman screaming for help in the 9800 block of Paseo Montril shortly before 1:30 a.m. found Mount Carmel High School graduate Breanna Williams' nude body in front of the house and her 24-year-old brother, Brian Rockwell Williams, sitting nearby, SDPD homicide Lt. Ernie Herbert said.

Their mother, 52-year-old Donna Williams, was dead in an upstairs bedroom in her home, according to Herbert.

The son surrendered peaceably and was booked into county jail on suspicion of two counts of murder.

“He was very calm when the officers got there, and he followed their commands (and) was arrested without any incident,” SDPD Capt. Jim Collins told reporters.

The motive for the attack was unclear. Preliminary evidence and interviews “only revealed there was a disturbance between the son, mother and daughter,” Herbert said.

The murder weapon was believed to be a kitchen knife, according to police.

Late last month, officers went to the Williams family home on a call of a disturbance involving the son, according to police officials, who declined to provide details about that incident.

Donna Williams spent 31 years with the SDPD, much of it in the agency's Child Abuse Unit, Collins said outside downtown police headquarters, where flags were flying at half-staff. The detective — whose late husband, Howard Williams, also had been a San Diego police officer — was a “cornerstone” of her division, Collins said.

Her daughter recently graduated from high school and planned to attend a San Francisco design college on a full scholarship, according to Collins.

The slayings had “a big impact on everybody in the department,” particularly those who worked in Williams' unit, the captain told news crews.

“We are a family, and a case like this is devastating,” he said.