BEVERLY HILLS — Detectives investigated the October 10, 2017 death of 67-year-old Violet Yacobi, a widow found on the marble entryway below the staircase of her Beverly Hills mansion around 7:30 p.m. that evening. Responding officers initially suspected the death might be a suicide, but observations at the scene led investigators to seek a search warrant.

Detective Mark Schwartz received a call about an unattended death at the home. Daniel Yacobi and Dina Yacobi told police they found Violet Yacobi's body. On the 911 call, Daniel Yacobi told the operator that his sister was performing CPR, and he later told detectives that he also performed chest compressions.

Detective George Elwell did not think Violet Yacobi could have fallen over the railing. Elwell observed that the staircase railing was covered in dust with no disturbance indicating a fall. Violet Yacobi was about 5 feet tall, and the staircase railing was just over 3 feet high. Elwell told Schwartz they needed to write a search warrant because he was not comfortable with what he was seeing.

Around midnight on October 10, 2017, Schwartz and Elwell asked Daniel and Dina Yacobi to accompany them on a walkthrough of the home. The detectives found no signs of burglary, and Violet Yacobi's wallet, checkbook, cellphone, and iPad were still inside. There were no obvious signs of a rope or belt near her body. When detectives examined the body, there were marks under her chin and on her neck. It appeared that she had vomited near the time of her death.

"I saw bruising everywhere. And I saw a bruise right here. So, to me it looks like she was strangled." Daniel Yacobi said he had seen his mother at a family dinner two days before her death and said she seemed fine. After he could not find his own keys, he asked his sister if she had the house keys.

Violet Yacobi's dog had recently died, and she had canceled her cleaning lady shortly before her death. She had also marked the first anniversary of her husband's death shortly before her own. Family members rejected the idea that she would commit suicide.