Man ’cut off parents’ heads’ before singing songs by Tina Turner and Stevie Wonder

27 August 2024 , 21:19

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Man ’cut off parents’ heads’ before singing songs by Tina Turner and Stevie Wonder

Joseph Brandon Gerdvil, 41, was shot by police after allegedly beheading his parents at their home in San Juan Capistrano, California before launching into song as he was arrested

A man is accused of beheading his parents, killing their dog and then singing Tina Turner and Stevie Wonder songs after he was shot by police.

Joseph Brandon Gerdvil, 41, was shot by officers after a family member received texts from him containing images of elderly relatives appearing to be "severely injured." Officers discovered the man’s parents Ronald Gerdvil, 77, and Antoinette Gerdvil, 79, dead and decapitated at their home in San Juan Capistrano, California a short time later, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. 

It is also alleged that Gerdvil beheaded them, left one head on a kitchen worktop, before mutilating their dog and fleeing from the scene in a golf cart. The arrest took a bizarre turn when Gerdvil begged officers to kill him and then started singing love-themed hits by Tina Turner and Stevie Wonder.

Gerdvil is alleged to have killed his parents and their dog before he was shot by police ( Image: Orange County Sheriff’s Department)

Gerdvil sang ’What’s love got to do, got to do with it?’ and ’What’s love but a second-hand emotion?’ referencing Turner’s the 1984 single, reports the Mirror US. As deputies tended to his wounds he then began to sing Stevie Wonder’s ’I just called to say I love you’. Gerdvil has been charged on suspicion of double homicide and remains in hospital, according to police. They said the suspect lived with his parents in a trailer park but did not know what led to the attack.

Officers were called to the scene by a cousin who told the dispatcher at around 7.30am that Gerdvil had mental health problems and a history of violence, authorities said. Gerdvil was seen covered in blood and chasing a maintenance worker with a fork after the murder.

Bodycam footage taken 20 minutes later showed deputies encountering Gerdvil in the street. As Gerdvil approached them with what appeared to be a metal water meter in his hand, one deputy yelled: "Get on the ground right now!" He was covered in blood and continued walking towards the deputies until he was shot. 

Gerdvil could be heard shouting as he fell to the ground, and said "I love you" and "I’m sorry you’re going to have to die as he was being placed in handcuffs while on his stomach. He then pleaded with the officers to kill him, he said: "Finish me off. Just finish me off. Put one in my head. Put one in my head, please. I beg of you."

Elizabeth Baker