San Francisco police said on Sunday that they arrested two individuals in connection to the attempted robbery that resulted in the death of Private Investigator Jack Palladino.
Authorities said Palladino could have helped solve the case of his own death after photographs were found in his camera that helped police identify the suspects. Officials said the criminals tried to steal the victim’s camera during the encounter.
Solving His Own Case
The attack occurred on January 28 and left Palladino, who has worked on high-profile cases, including mass suicides to scandals of politicians and celebrities, with a severe head injury.
Police said that on Sunday, they arrested 24-year-old Lawrence Thomas and 23-year-old Tyjone Flournoy. However, it was not immediately known if the two suspects had attorneys that could represent them in court.
The victim, 76-year-old Palladino, was admitted into the hospital after the attack and remained unconscious after his wife, private detective Sandra Sutherland, received news of the arrests on Saturday. “I said, ‘Guess what, Jack, they got the bastards, and it was all your doing,’” she said.
Palladino’s stepson, Nick Chapman, said his father wanted to test out his new camera and went outside of their home in San Francisco when the suspects’ car stopped in front of him. Immediately, a man came out of the vehicle and attempted to steal the victim’s camera.
During the encounter, Palladino was pushed down to the ground, hitting his head on the pavement. Medical professionals said they did not expect the victim to survive his injuries despite undergoing surgery.
Palladino’s family said he was finishing up one last case before following his wife in retirement. The couple spent the last four decades using their Victorian home in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood as their base of operations for investigations, KRON4 reported.
Some of Palladino’s previous clients include former President Bill Clinton, who hired the victim in 1992 to help suppress rumors of his extramarital affairs, Courtney Love, who asked for Palladino’s assistance to prove her innocence of the death of her husband, Kurt Cobain.
