Chilling new details have emerged in the execution of a Simi Valley doctor and his wife: Their son sat in wait to ambush and gunned down the beloved couple in their own garage, a neighbor told The Post.
Keith Cordes drove past the home in his black Honda Civic, then staked it out as he waited for the perfect moment to strike, the witness said Wednesday.
Blood was found inside the couple’s garage. Obtained by the NY Post“He did like a drive-by, like a dry run at 11:25 and then went and staked out at that cul-de-sac,” said Mike Hylton, who lives five houses down from the bloodied crime scene.
“Then at 12:01, he must have waited for the garage door to open and that was it,” the local resident said.
Dr. Cordes and his wife were left for dead in the driveway of their home.
That’s when Hylton’s son heard shots, looked outside and saw a car take off. Hylton ran to the couple’s home, where he saw Dr. Eric Cordes, 63, and his wife, Vicki Schiller, 66, shot multiple times in their garage.
Cordes was shot in the neck and head and was “hanging out of his Maserati door jamb,” Hylton said.
Schiller was behind him on the floor with “holes all over her,” Hylton added.
“I watched them die,” Hylton recounted. Neighbors gathered around the bloody scene as police and paramedics tried to revive the couple.
“When the police got here, they tried to revive him. They drug Eric out and tried to do CPR, but it was too late for him,” Hylton told The Post.
“He passed right away, she may have lived for another 10 minutes or so,” said Hylton.
Cops say a suicide that happened shortly after the murder is linked to the Cordeses’ murders. Focus Medical ImagingLess than three hours later, police located the black Honda Civic that the suspect drove, 70 miles away in Ayala Park in Chino. It had been set on fire and the body inside was badly burned; police have yet to identify the occupant.
The shooter is believed to be Cordes’ son, who had been living in Kentucky, according to Hylton. “There was a dispute over money and basically there was a threat and he followed through with it,” Hylton told The Post.
Police believe Eric and Vicki were targeted.
Red smears that appear to be bloodstains remain on the sidewalk outside the home’s garage door. A small memorial with a candle and flowers were left in the driveway.
“They were very loving, very respectful, to the community,” Hylton said. He spent time with the couple going camping and during block parties.
“We used to have cool little block parties. We’d go camping with them in the desert. They had an RV,” Hylton said.
Police have yet to released the name of the suspect or a motive but assured the public that the incident appeared to be targeted. There is no ongoing threat to the community, authorities said.
