TEHACHAPI, Calif. (KERO) — A 23-year-old Tehachapi man is awaiting court dates after allegedly killing his 83-year-old grandfather and burning his remains.
According to documents obtained by 23ABC, Skyler Higginbotham is alleged to have killed his grandfather Norman Higginbotham by stabbing him.
Kern County Sheriff's Office deputies and detectives located several pieces of evidence they believe tie Skyler to the alleged murder, including testimony from Skyler's friends and GPS data extracted from his phone placing him near the scene where Norman's body was burned.
Norman's body was found burned in a storage unit on an abandoned property near Banducci Road and Alps Drive near Tehachapi.
23ABC reached out to several neighbors in the area about the incident that occurred in June, but none were willing to comment.
In the offense report, a deputy booking Skyler Higginbotham into the Lerdo Receiving Facility wrote that Skyler made unprompted statements about his case. The report notes the quotes are not verbatim and exact quotes could be extracted from video recording of the statements.
"They're saying it is murder but I don't have a history that lines up with that," the deputy alleges Skyler said, adding that he could get character statements.
The deputy also alleges that Skyler said he was "tweaking" and didn't know what to do when Norman was found dead in the house.
"I'm just scared about; I mean negligence is way different than homicide man," Skyler reportedly said.
Skyler is also reported to have spent several thousand dollars he found in the home where he and Norman lived and was confronted by deputies about spending the money before being notified that Norman was dead. The report alleges Skyler told deputies he knew Norman was dead in a "cosmic sense."
Skyler Higginbothamis pending a pre-preliminary hearing scheduled for August 25 at 9 a.m. He is being held without bail.
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