A 34-year-old Laguna Beach man was charged Tuesday with fatally stabbing his mother in the mobile home they shared.
Matthew Bryson McDonald is being held on $1 million bail pending arraignment Sept. 6 on a murder charge, with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon -- a knife.
Police were called about 10:45 a.m. Sunday to the Laguna Terrace Park mobile home community in the 30000 block of South Coast Highway after a friend arrived to pick up 61-year-old Megan Estes Hampton to go to church and found her dead.
Laguna Beach police Sgt. Jim Cota said neighbors reported that they had seen McDonald back into a mailbox with his mother's car, then speed off that morning, which they found unusual because had not driven in several months. Cota also said that McDonald suffers from a mental disorder.
Officers were given a description of McDonald as a possible suspect, and he was arrested about noon on Sunday in San Clemente.
