Crime & Safety
Suspect in S.D. Homicide Was Arrested at Alvarado Parkway Institute in La Mesa
Tiffany Burney was arrested Saturday in connection with a Tierrasanta killing on Wednesday.
Updated at 2:30 p.m. Monday
A suspect in a Tierrasanta slaying Wednesday was arrested Saturday at a mental hospital in La Mesa, authorities say.
Tiffany Nicole Burney, 23, of San Diego was arrested without incident at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on Parkway* Drive, according to San Diego police. She is the grandniece of Daisy Mae Hayes, 74, who was found shot to death inside her home on Gabacho Drive.
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On Monday, La Mesa police Capt. Dan Willis said the San Diego Police Department arrested Burney at Alvarado Parkway Institute-Charter Hospital in the 7000 block of Parkway Drive.
On Dec. 14, family members went to check on Hayes after they could not reach her by phone during the day. Police officers responded to a report of a death at 6:19 p.m. and detectives started a death investigation, according to San Diego police.
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Detectives identified Burney as the suspect in Hayes’ death and found her at te mental hospital Saturday morning, according to San Diego police.
San Diego 6 News reported Sunday that Burney “complained of suffering from paranoia, memory loss, and admitted she was ‘withdrawn from reality.’”
The news station said:
Burney filed a civil suit against San Diego County’s Health and Human Services Agency in August 2010, blaming the department for making her condition worse while she was treated at a county facility in April and May of that year. Burney claimed she was assaulted during her stay, forced to take medications, and suffered 'mental anguish. Her case was dismissed.
Court records cited by 6 News said the San Diego County Psychiatric Hospital “petitioned successfully on April 30 to have her placed under a court-appointed conservator because she was gravely disabled.”
Burney was booked without bail into Las Colinas Women’s Detention Facility in Santee on one count of murder. Her arraignment was set for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in San Diego Superior Court.
*Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the arrest was on Parkside Drive.
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