A neighbour revealed that a dentist confessed his resentment towards his parents for pressuring him into the profession before he killed his mother in their Beverly Hills home to gain a share of her $12 million estate.
Daniel Yacobi strangled his mother, Violet, to death in 2017, and authorities arrested him four months later following a coroner’s determination of her death as a homicide. Concern arose when Violet did not answer a call from her brother on October 10, 2017, offering to assist her with her car.
This behavior was unusual for Violet, who had been mourning the loss of her husband, Solomon, who passed away in 2016.
Violet’s lifeless body was discovered that evening at the foot of the grand staircase in her $8 million residence. Initially evading law enforcement, Daniel posted a message on Facebook on what would have been his mother’s 68th birthday, implying she was watching from above. However, by the following February, he was apprehended and subsequently charged with murder.
During the trial, LA County Deputy District Attorney Shane Michael stated that Daniel choked the life out of his mother and left her in the home where he grew up during high school and college.
Testifying at the trial, Dean Summers, a neighbor’s brother, recounted Daniel’s deep depression and his expressed resentment towards his parents for coercing him into dentistry. Family friend Joseph Mamalinger informed investigators that Daniel had inquired about inheritance tax shortly before Violet’s demise, raising suspicions.
Investigators uncovered Daniel’s online search history questioning the effects of a chokehold, although his defense argued that Violet’s death resulted from a fall from a balcony, not strangulation.
Daniel Yacobi was convicted of murder on August 22 and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, nearly eight years after his initial arrest.