Grandson ordered
to stand trial
for strangling Alpine grandmother
By Neal Putnam
The Alpine Sun
EL CAJON — Grim testimony was heard Aug. 25 about the
strangulation death of Eunice Cothron, a 73-year-old grandmother
whose grandson allegedly killed her in her mobile home in
Alpine, so he and a friend could get her car, cell phone, money,
jewelry, and cameras.
The testimony was difficult for the victim’s relatives
to hear and it was a somber preliminary hearing before El Cajon
Superior Court Judge Patricia Cookson. Some heard parts of it
and then left.
The victim’s son, Alan Hayes, of El Cajon, testified he
went to his mother’s residence at the Alpine Mobile Home Estates
on Alpine Boulevard after she didn’t answer the phone on May 16.
He said the door was unlocked and he went inside.
“My mom was on the floor. She had a rag stuffed in her
mouth,” said Alan Hayes. “I called 911. I felt her ankle and her
body felt cold.”
Hayes’ son, Brandon Allen Hayes, 27, and Jeffrey Carl
Reed, 20, were both ordered to stand trial for murder,
carjacking, robbery, burglary, and special circumstances
allegations that the slaying occurred during a robbery and
burglary. The District Attorney’s office has not decided if they
will seek the death penalty or a life in prison without the
possibility of parole.
“He killed her with his bare hands. He stuffed a towel
in her face,” said Deputy District Attorney Kurt Mechals about
Brandon Hayes.
The relatives of Eunice Cothron were there because of
her and not in support of Brandon Hayes. Cothron was the last
relative to continue helping him, but even she filed a
restraining order against him after it became clear that he
stole her car on April 11 while she was in Hawaii on vacation.
Several members of Reed’s family also attended the
hearing.
Brandon Hayes has a prior criminal record for auto
theft and vehicular assault along with drug abuse. He had been
in drug treatment programs, but either quit or was kicked out of
them. He met Reed at a drug treatment program just weeks before
the murder and they both left the program at the same time.
Sheriff’s homicide detective Suzanne Fiske testified
the medical examiner determined that Cothron died as a result of
strangulation, but a pink towel put in her mouth may also have
played a role in asphyxia. She said Cothron had some cuts to her
face, a broken bone, and many bruises.
Barbara McRae, the victim’s daughter, of San Diego,
testified Brandon Hayes used methamphetamine “in the past” and
had attended drug rehab programs. She said both she and Brandon
Hayes spent the night at his grandmother’s house before her
Hawaii trip as she was taking her early to the airport.
McRae testified during the night Cothron heard a noise
and saw that “he had the bag she was going to carry on the
plane. He was going through it.” Cothron left her car keys in
the mobile home, said McRae, and her grandson apparently took
her car keys as the car was stolen days later.
McRae testified she received a call from Cothron that
may have occurred just minutes before she was killed. She said a
man was at the door to pick up Brandon Hayes’ birth certificate,
and claimed a sheriff’s deputy was nearby, though the victim
said she could not see the deputy.
That scenario matched one of the stories Reed told
sheriff’s deputies after his arrest. Fiske testified that Reed
told deputies he presented a business card to Cothron to
distract her while Brandon Hayes then burst into the door. The
business card was for a clean needle exchange program in another
county, and it was found on the floor.
Reed told deputies that he showed the card to Cothron
and said, “the sheriff asked me to give you this card.” It was
then that Brandon Hayes burst inside.
“They planned to steal jewelry and money,” said Fiske
of Reed’s statement. “Brandon attacked her, forcing her to the
floor using his hands to strangle her. Mr. Hayes used his own
knife to cut at her throat.”
Fiske said Reed told deputies he went through drawers,
and “took a bill because he thought there might be money in it.”
Torn up cards in envelopes were also found. Reed said Hayes
threw a jewelry box at him to carry, and he took his
grandmother’s purse.
As they were leaving in the victim’s car, Reed told
deputies he threw out three knives out the window, and it hit a
sign. Fiske said those knives were later recovered and there was
a small dent in a freeway sign.
Reed told deputies he wished he had stopped the murder.
“He was concerned he would have to go to prison for a very long
time,” said Fiske. She said Reed sobbed during the interview,
which lasted 4-5 hours. She said Reed voluntarily said he “shot
up with heroin that morning.”
Fiske told Cookson that Reed and Hayes then went across
the border in the stolen car, and “they bought drugs; they
bought prostitutes.” She added: “He (Reed) saw Mr. Hayes
exchange jewelry for drugs.” Both men were arrested after they
returned to the U.S.
Sheriff’s deputy Thomas Fletcher testified he was the
first person to notify Brandon Hayes of the restraining order
Cothron had filed against him. Fletcher said he encountered
Hayes around 4:30 a.m. in the 2400 block of Alpine Boulevard
while he was on patrol the day before Cothron was killed.
Fletcher said he read information about the restraining
order to Hayes, but also asked him why his grandmother would
file it. Hayes said his grandmother had accused him of theft,
but that was untrue. Hayes told him he still had property at his
grandmother’s home, but Fletcher said he would need to get a
deputy or a third party present before he could return there.
Ironically, it was Fletcher who was one of the first
deputies to arrive at Cothron’s mobile home in response to her
son’s 911 call. He said he recognized the name, saying he had
told Brandon Hayes of the restraining order about 16 hours
earlier.
Attorney Bart Sheela, who represents the grandson, told
the judge that Reed’s statement is based on “falsehoods,” and
called the comments “a coerced statement.” He unsuccessfully
sought to have them stricken from the record.
Attorney Thomas Carnessale, who represents Reed, told
the judge his client felt threatened by Brandon Hayes. “He
(Reed) really did find himself in the wrong place, wrong time,
and the wrong person,” he added.
Carnessale said Reed’s only role in the murder “was to
get the door open,” and he did not participate in the attack.
Both men will return to court on Oct. 14 to set a trial
date. They remain at the George Bailey Detention Facility
without bail.
A warrant has been issued for Jaimie Varga Rios, 32, of
Valley Center on the lone charge of receiving stolen property.
It is alleged that Rios somehow came into possession of
Cothron’s car, which was taken while she was in Hawaii.
Sheriff’s detective Matthew Glisson testified he
recovered Cothron’s car, which had been stored in a garage in
Valley Center. Glisson testified he interviewed Rios, who said
he received the car from Brandon Hayes. Rios met Hayes at a
sober living facility in the past.
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