Bakersfield, California — The Kern County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of a man discovered in a shipping container.
The man’s grandson was charged with murder.
The sheriff’s office says they discovered Norman Higginbotham’s body in Tehachapi’s upper mountains, just off Banducci Road. Higginbotham, 83, was discovered burned in a shipping container with multiple stab wounds on June 13 at around 9:50 p.m. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
Banducci Road is a mountainous road that connects Stallion Springs and Tehachapi, with sharp curves that follow the Tehachapi mountain range’s edge.
Skylar Higginbotham, the victim’s grandson, was arrested on June 25 in the parking lot of Golden Hills Elementary, which is only two minutes from his home.
Ruthy Fry, a neighbor, witnessed the arrest.
“We were sitting out on the front porch and we noticed one sheriff come in, and then pretty soon we saw several others that were coming in, we heard the lights and the sirens coming.”
Fry, who lives across the street from the elementary school, reported that a CSI team arrived and towed a car away.
“That’s the school my grandkids go to, so it was a little concerning seeing that right across the street and then finding out that somebody had been murdered,” Fry recalled.
Fry claimed it was the talk of the neighborhood.
“We had heard that a young man had supposedly killed his grandfather and the street was blocked off at the end of the road down there,” Fry told us.
That road is known as Mission Street. The house listed as both Higgonbothams’ address is vacant, and the neighborhood was quiet.
According to court records, Norman Higginbotham was reported missing. Skyler was confronted by a neighbor regarding his grandfather’s disappearance. Deputies interviewed Skyler’s friends, who claimed he admitted to murdering his grandfather.
Skyler Higginbotham pleaded not guilty at his arraignment and is due in court on Wednesday, July 9.
He has no set bail.
