CrimeWatch

PLEASANTON (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― A Pleasanton couple found slain at their country club home were "brutally beaten" to death and likely dead for nearly a week before their bodies were discovered, authorities said Monday.

The Alameda County coroner's office performed autopsies Monday on 60-year-old Ernest Scherer Jr., and his 57-year-old wife, Charlene Abendroth, to determine how they died.

Sheriff's Sgt. J.D. Nelson said detectives were still at the scene Monday near Castlewood Country Club where the couple's bodies were found on Friday.

Investigators continued trying to determine whether the attacks were random or targeted.
 
"Do I believe it's a random act? No. Can I prove it wasn't a random act? No, I can't," Sgt. Scott Dudek said.

Some things inside the home had been disturbed, but Dudek said it was too early in the investigation to tell whether a burglary had taken place or whether someone had tried to make it look like a burglary.

Authorities said the couple was last seen leaving a country club dinner on the evening of March 7.

The next day, Scherer didn't show up to a meeting he had scheduled, leading investigators to believe the couple was killed sometime between 8 p.m. on March 7 and the morning of March 8, Dudek said.

The couple's adult daughter, who spoke with her parents daily, was the first to become concerned. She had called several times and still hadn't heard from them, Dudek said.

At first she thought they might have gone on a trip, since they often traveled in the winter and early spring, but it would have been unusual for them not to have told her, so she notified the sheriff's office.

Then last Friday, about 12:30 p.m., the sheriff's office received a call from a country club employee who had looked in a window of the couple's home at 18 Castlewood Drive and saw what appeared to be a body.

Sheriff's deputies responded and made entry into the two-story, 2,000 square-foot home, where they found the two bodies lying in close proximity to each other in the front of the house, Dudek said. Both victims were wearing their pajamas.

"We've been working non-stop ever since," Dudek said, indicating the two deaths were being investigated as a double homicide from the start.

The couple were married 31 years and are survived by two adult children, the daughter and a son, who were devastated by the murders.

"It's a hard time for the family. It was a brutal scene," Dudek said.

The family is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the killer or killers. Sheriff's investigators are asking that anyone who saw anything that might be considered suspicious around the time of the murders to contact them.

"There's only one way in and one way out of Castlewood," Dudek said.

Although it is not a gated community, Castlewood Drive runs in a circle between the two greens of the golf course and is the only access route.

Dudek asked that anyone who might have seen a suspicious vehicle entering or leaving the country club grounds to come forward.

Abendroth was a long-time lecturer at California State University, East Bay's College of Business and Economics and a Certified Public Accountant. She had been teaching undergraduate and graduate accounting courses at the university since 1976, but had taken the semester off to travel with her husband.

"This is a heartbreaking tragedy and a tremendous loss for Cal State East Bay,'' university President Mohammad Qayoumi said. "Charlene Abendroth dedicated more than 30 years to teaching Cal State East Bay students and was a friend and valued colleague to countless faculty and staff. Her loss is irreplaceable and our thoughts and prayers are with her family.''

Scherer was an avid poker player and a member of the Alameda County Republican Committee.

Prior to joining Alameda County Republic Party, Scherer was an active volunteer with the Contra Costa Republican Party and a former member of the San Ramon Valley School Board.

"In the aftermath of a tragedy such as this, it is hard to make any sense of the world around us,'' Alameda County Republican Party Chairman Paul Cummings. "We will all miss Ernie and Charlene.''

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