A Novi district court judge heard enough from five witnesses Tuesday to send the case against an 84-year-old grandmother's accused killer to county court.
Peter Jones, a 46-year-old old parole from a manslaughter sentence, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder in the Jan. 13 death of neighbor Bernice Schaufele.
The most vivid testimony at his preliminary examination came from the victim's daughter Sharon Schaufele, as Eric D. Lawrence describes in the Free Press:
Schaufele and her boyfriend had gone to her mother’s home on West Glen Haven Circle on Jan. 13 after they couldn’t reach her by phone.They had to force their way in because a couch had been pushed against the door. Inside, Bernice Schaufele, a well-loved grandmother preparing for a move out of state, was sprawled across the floor. . . .
“I tried to give her CPR and I breathed into her mouth and I just heard a gurgling sound from the blood,” Sharon Schaufele testified Tuesday. . . .
Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Kenneth Frazee III referenced evidence — including a safe key, bloody dish towel and pink Clinique cosmetic bag belonging to the victim — found in the basement where Jones was staying, a unit in the same building as the victim.
“All this evidence points to the fact that the defendant is the perpetrator of this act,” Frazee said.
The defendant was paroled in May 2012 after serving six years for a 1998 death in Wayne County. His state supervision was scheduled to end this May.
Jones also had been convicted of a 2000 homicide in Florida, Lawrence writes.
