Surveillance footage at the Irvine home of a slain disabled man showed that it was his ex-caregiver who crashed a minivan into the garage before forcing his way into the house and fatally stabbing his former client, according to a report by police released on Thursday, Sept. 12.
Around 2:15 a.m. on Aug. 5, a 911 caller reported that he found his client, a quadriplegic man, dead in his bedroom at a residence along Whistling Swan near Wetstone, the critical incident report stated. The caller, who was the current caregiver for John Alexander Bash III, the victim, told dispatch that he was in his room when he heard a loud explosion.
“I just came to the room to check … because the alarm’s going to sound,” the man said. “This is like a murder scene.”
The man said Bash had returned home from a party a couple of hours prior, and he had last seen the victim after putting him to bed and returning to his room down the hall.
Officers arrived at the home to find a Honda Odyssey minivan had crashed into the garage door, which caused a gas leak in the home, authorities said.
Bash, 38, was found dead in his bed with several stab wounds.
Home surveillance cameras positioned outside the home, in the living room and in Bash’s bedroom captured 47-year-old Aaron Matthew Shindle crashing the minivan into the garage before forcibly entering the victim’s bedroom and stabbing him to death, police said.
While canvassing the neighborhood around 3:30 a.m., an officer spotted Shindle walking in the area of West Yale Loop and Stone Creek South.
“Because of the early morning hour and the ongoing search for a homicide suspect, the officer believed it was appropriate to stop and contact Mr. Shindle to investigate his activities,” Irvine Police Sgt. Leticia Hernandez said.
The officer asked for Shindle’s name and what he was doing out so late, which he refused to answer before pulling a knife out from his pocket. The officer gave several commands to Shindle to drop the knife, with the man refusing to listen, body-worn camera footage showed.
At one point, Shindle told the officer that he was being followed.
“They had me, chasing me around like I’m a child predator,” he said to the officer in body-worn camera footage.
Shindle continued to advance toward the officer, raising the knife above his head before the officer shot him at least four times.
Shindle was taken to a hospital, where he later died.
A motive for Bash’s killing remained under investigation.
Bash’s brother said in August that Schindle — who had lived in Tampa, Florida, but in recent times was nomadic — quit the job as caretaker in 2021 to enter rehabilitation for methamphetamine use.
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