Authorities are looking for a person who they believe stole from an apartment in Malden where an elderly man was discovered dead last Wednesday. A
Authorities are looking for a person who they believe stole from an apartment in Malden where an elderly man was discovered dead last Wednesday.
According to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, Dion Smith, 33, of Boston, has a warrant out for his arrest on larceny-related offenses.
As reported by the district attorney’s office, Smith took something from an apartment on Kennedy Drive where a dead male was recovered. Since then, they have managed to track down the stolen goods but not Smith. What was taken from the apartment wasn’t readily apparent.
Ronald Gilbert, age 79, has been confirmed as the victim. According to the DA’s office, his death is being looked into as suspicious based on early evidence from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Gilbert was discovered dead inside his second-floor apartment on February 22 around 2 p.m., and it looked that he had been there for some time, according to authorities, when officers arrived at Gilbert’s apartment building.
The apartment complex’s proprietor, Doug Bailey, issued the following statement:
“We want to reassure residents and neighbors of the safety and security of our apartment complex in light of the recent incident and remind the public that it occurred more than a week ago. Our facilities have 24-hour in-person security and all doors and common access points require a fob entry system. There has been no breach or forced entry into any of our apartments or grounds. The suspect was not a resident of the community and was not known to us in any way. The focus of the story now should be on the family of the victim and locating the suspect.”
Gilbert’s cause of death has not yet been established.
Police ask anyone with knowledge about the incident or Dion Smith’s whereabouts to contact them.
