Frederick Holgate, 69, a resident of Santa Maria, California, was found dead and partially decapitated at approximately 5:40 a.m. on Saturday, August 1, 2009, on a city sidewalk in the 1300 block of South Miller. The person who made the gruesome discovery called the police and reported a possible hit-and-run or other driving accident. He later told officers and reporters how he had found the body.
"I thought the guy was drunk or passed out because his cane was sitting alongside (his body), his hat was down, and so I walked over to him to help him up or call the police and get an ambulance," said the man who found Holgate's body.
Police working the crime scene soon found a hatchet, which they believed to be the murder weapon, several feet from Holgate's body.
"We got a call…around 5:40 a.m. for a possible hit and run driving collision, and our officers got on scene and realized it was actually a homicide," said Lieutenant Dan Ast of the Santa Maria Police Department.
Some two hours later, while crime scene investigators were still working at the scene, the police department received another telephone call.
"We received a call a little later in the morning at a different location where somebody was found to be covered in bloody clothing, and we since have arrested that person," Ast said.
The person turned out to be Nicholas Bendle, 20, who had returned home purportedly covered in blood after having been previously reported missing. A relative of Bendle's had called the police to Bendle's home. It was later revealed that Bendle had recently been depressed due to the death of a friend.
People in the typically quiet community, located near California's central coast amid the foothills of Santa Barbara wine country, were naturally pretty shaken up by the bizarre incident and began worrying about their own safety.
"I'm concerned about my girls walking down the street," said one resident. "I'm concerned about the elderly...this is Santa Maria—it's supposed to be safe."
Apparently Holgate's birthday was coming up the Friday after his death, and his daughter's 21st birthday was on the Tuesday following his death, and they had planned to celebrate both birthdays by going to Disneyland—in part because Holgate had never been to Disneyland before. Instead, Holgate's daughter—and the rest of her family—spent her birthday, as well as that of her father's, mourning their tragic loss.
Holgate was described as a kind, generous man whose family depended on him for support.
"That man provided for them, and now, he'll never be able to provide for them again," said a family spokesperson. "We're just going to really miss him. It really wasn't his time to go."
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