The more I look at this, the more it seems that he killed her accidentally. What I think happened is he took her away to force her to get clean, something that always backfires. He got frustrated, and, hopped up on booze and blow, hit her too hard and accidentally killed her. I do not think he meant to kill her. From there, grieving and guilt stricken he switched from beer to the hard stuff and drank himself to death.
The incident in June fits into this scenario, too. He was allegedly trying to get her on the boat to clean her up, right? Can anyone not see him losing his temper and hitting her? Even pistol whipping her. Let’s face it, he had a history of violence and kidnapping towards women. Remember Helen Na?
I think he cared about her more than any other woman in his life. I think he tried to do the right thing by her but fucked up. Either way, if this was in NYC, he’d be indicted on a top count of Murder 2 (by depraved indifference) with a lesser-included charge of Man 1. I don’t know how the California statute works, but it must be similar.
Chico’s history of violence towards women made a case of outright murder likely. Especially when the ME said it wasan’t an overdose case. As things develop, it looks more likely that he killed her accidentally. And I said so. If the ME turns around and says "Hey, we were wrong, she checked out loaded full of Oxys," I will publicly eat my words and send you that bottle.
But as of right now, I’m going with the accidental homicide theory. Legally, it’s still murder, but he would have likely gotten off with Manslaughter.