A dentist from Bel Air was charged Wednesday with the financially motivated slaying of his mother at her Beverly Hills home last October.
Daniel Simon Yacobi, 36, pleaded not guilty to the murder charge, which includes a special circumstance allegation of murder for financial gain, in connection with the slaying of Violet Yacobi, 67.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has yet to decide whether to seek the death penalty against Yacobi, who was arrested Monday following a lengthy investigation into his mother's strangulation death last Oct. 9 at her home in the 600 block of North Roxbury Drive.
Beverly Hills police officers and fire department personnel responded last Oct. 10 to a call of an unconscious woman who was not breathing, according to Beverly Hills police. Despite lifesaving measures, Violet Yacobi was pronounced dead at the scene.
Daniel Yacobi had accompanied the victim's daughter to her home to check on her after unsuccessful attempts to reach her by phone, police said.
Beverly Hills police detectives, the Los Angeles Field Office of the United States Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force and the Los Angeles County coroner's office began investigating the circumstances of the woman's death, determined she had been strangled and eventually ruled her death a homicide.
Physical, digital and other evidence led investigators to suspect that her son was responsible for his mother's death and that financial gain was the motive, police said.
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Yacobi has been held without bail since his arrest. He is due back March 19 at the Airport Courthouse in Los Angeles to get a date for a preliminary hearing.
