The body of 67 year old Hugh Ward was found wrapped in blankets and stuffed inside of the trunk of his car.
Ward disappeared Monday. From the start, investigators from the Madera County Sheriff's Department suspected foul play. Some of his personal belongings were found in and around a dumpster Monday morning.
Then, later that same day, his grandson, 21 year old Anthony Love Queen, reported Ward's home had been burglarized, and his grandfather and his car were missing. The car, a 2002 Toyota Camry, was found near Madera's Town and Country Park. Sheriff John Anderson said it appeared Ward had been stabbed to death.
Queen, who was just paroled from Corcoran State Prison Sunday, is now the primary suspect. He's currently jailed on a parole hold but the sheriff anticipates he'll be booked on murder charges soon.
The mother of murder suspect Anthony Love Queen says she doesn't believe her son killed her father Hugh Ward, but acknowledges he has a history of mental illness.
On Tuesday night Joya Ward said she wanted people to know her son is not a villain.
...."I want people to know my son was a good person. He was going through paranoid schizophrenic. I don't want people to portray him as being a bad person because he loved my dad. His illness was what took over I'm still trying to keep hope that it was not him." She said.
Anthony Queen had just been released from Corcoran State Prison on Sunday, the day before his grandfather Hugh Ward disappeared from his Madera County home. Joya Ward said Anthony had been in prison for more than a year on a burglary conviction. But she said he was diagnosed as a Schizophrenic four years ago. She said she had been unable to get him treatment.
"I feel horrible. I feel devastated. I lost two people in one day and I can't get that back. I feel the system let my son down, and now my Dad is gone."
Hugh Ward's body was discovered in the trunk of his car Tuesday afternoon. The vehicle had been left the parking lot of a Madera city park. It appeared he had been stabbed to death.
Anthony Queen is being held on a parole violation in the Madera County Jail.
