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Sacramento sheriff's deputies booked Wendell Celestine on a murder charge after a woman was found dead on El Paraiso Avenue.
ABC10 and CBS Sacramento reported deputies were called around 11 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, to a home in the 4900 block of El Paraiso Avenue after firefighters on a medical call found a 56-year-old woman dead. Wendell Celestine, 67, had reported finding his girlfriend unconscious. CBS Sacramento reported the two had been married, divorced, and were together again. He is ineligible for bail.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer · · Updated
What the stations have is a dead woman, a house with broken glass and damaged furniture, and a murder booking. They have not named her, and they have not said how she died. ABC10 described her as his girlfriend. CBS Sacramento reported officials said the two had divorced and later resumed the relationship. A charge is not a conviction.
Wendell Celestine, 67, was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail on a murder charge after a 56-year-old woman was found dead Friday night inside a South Sacramento home, ABC10 and CBS Sacramento reported. ABC10 reported Sacramento County sheriff's deputies went to a home in the 4900 block of El Paraiso Avenue around 11 p.m. on Oct. 23, 2026, at the request of Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District crews who had been sent on a medical-aid call. CBS Sacramento reported the call came after Celestine asked for medical help and said he had found the woman unconscious.
ABC10 reported firefighters found signs of trauma on the woman, along with broken glass and damaged furniture, which authorities said were consistent with a possible physical altercation. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, ABC10 reported. Deputies detained Celestine, and homicide detectives and crime scene investigators took over, the station reported. CBS Sacramento reported he was arrested Saturday on suspicion of murder after that investigation. Both stations reported he is ineligible for bail.
The stations do not use one description of the relationship. ABC10 reported Celestine had said the woman was his girlfriend. CBS Sacramento reported he told responders she was his girlfriend, and that officials said the two had formerly been married, later divorced, and had resumed a romantic relationship. Neither station named her. Neither station reported a cause of death, a weapon, or anything Celestine said after the booking.
The murder charge is an accusation, not a finding. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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