John Jefferson
Top inset: Cynthia Berendzen (Hawaii Ash Scatterings). Bottom inset: Dillon Alexander Waller (Doña Ana County Detention Center). Background: The home in New Mexico where Berendzen was killed (KTSM).
A New Mexico man will spend the rest of his life in prison for strangling his mother and propping her decomposing body in the shower to make it look like she’d fallen and hit her head.
Dillon Alexander Waller, 31, learned his fate on Monday for the first-degree murder of his mother, Cynthia Berendzen, 69. Waller was also sentenced to an additional three years for the charge of tampering with evidence, prosecutors said in a press release. He was found guilty in December.
Berendzen allowed her son to live with her at her home in Las Cruces even though the two had a history of domestic violence and she had taken out a protective order against him, according to the statement of facts.
On Nov. 14, 2022, he killed his mother by placing a plastic trash bag over his mother’s face. Although she fought back, prosecutors say, Waller pulled her head in close to his body and applied pressure until she stopped breathing.
Afterward, he apparently left her body in the room for about five days while he cleaned the house with chemicals. He went to ATMs and local banks, taking money from his and his mother’s bank accounts.
At one point, he propped her body in the shower, positioning her in a way that would look like she tripped and fell, allegedly telling police that he was helped by a friend named Bianca. He said that when he took the bag off his mother’s head, he saw maggots on her body and cleaned up the scene, according to prosecutors.
Waller, joined by Bianca, then drove Berendzen’s Buick and her four dogs to Southern California, abandoning the vehicle and the dogs inside, the statement of facts said. He said that he crossed over into Tijuana, Mexico, on foot, waiting for Bianca to join him, but she never appeared. He then crossed back into the U.S. but could not locate the Buick, which by then had been found with the dogs inside by Border Patrol agents.
In San Diego, with no money and no one to contact, he was admitted to a hospital, released and given a bus ticket back to Las Cruces, New Mexico, the statement of facts said.
He told police that when he returned to Las Cruces, he was living on the streets until he was arrested on an unrelated warrant in April 2023.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Waller said he had reasons for killing his mother.
“He explained that he did not want his mother to suffer anymore and did not want to see her go to jail,” the statement of facts said. “The only way to keep her from having to go through this, was to have her go to a better place and kill her … he knew Law Enforcement would contact him regarding his mother’s death and he knew he would have to face what he did to his mother.”
Berendzen’s obituary said she was a selfless giver who always put the needs of others before her own.
“Her unwavering strength and encouraging spirit were a source of comfort and inspiration to her family and friends, and her capacity for forgiveness was truly awe-inspiring,” the obituary said. “As a devoted mother of three sons, she supported them in every way she could and instilled in them the importance of honesty, openness, and love. Her selflessness and generosity knew no bounds, and she always had a kind word or deed for those around her.”
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