Castro Valley man confessed to double homicide, police say

A Castro Valley man allegedly confessed to beating his mother and stepfather to death with a pipe wrench this week because “God told him to kill his parents,” according to court documents.

Stephen Tyler Thompson, 33, was charged with two counts of murder Friday in the deaths of 57-year-old Lori Thompson, and 46-year-old James Hamilton, as well as an enhancement for committing multiple murders, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said.

On Monday morning, Thompson’s younger brother, Trevor Thompson, went to check on his mother at the mobile home where she lived with Hamilton at the Chetwood Crest Mobile Homes Park on the 3900 block of Castro Valley Boulevard after she failed to show up to watch his children

But when Trevor Thompson got to the front door, it was open and there was a bloody wrench on the porch, court documents allege. He called for his wife, who was waiting in the car, to call the police.

Officers found James Hamilton lying dead on the floor in front of a couch with “obvious signs of blunt force trauma to the head,” court documents said.

Stephen Thompson was found lying on a mattress in a small bedroom “responsive but incoherent,” where he was held at gunpoint while investigators continued to search the home.

Lori Thompson was found on the floor in another bedroom with similar signs of trauma as Hamilton, though later examination would also show she had a fractured larynx, a sign that she had been strangled, according to court documents.

Stephen Thompson was taken to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley where he was treated for a possible drug overdose until he was fit to be released into the custody of sheriff’s deputies, who arrested him there Thursday, officials said.

In an interview with investigators, Stephen Thompson said that he heard God tell him to kill his parents, though he later clarified that the voice he heard in his head was his own, according to court documents.

Stephen Thompson allegedly said that he hit Hamilton “several times” in the head with the wrench. He told officials that Hamilton “never saw the blows coming,” court documents said.

He then put the wrench outside and found his mother in the bedroom, where he unsuccessfully tried to strangle her, investigators said in court documents, but it was “taking too long” and he got the wrench, which he used to hit her in the head.

At that point, investigators said, he walked back to the living room and saw that Hamilton was still breathing and hit him several more times with the wrench.

He then allegedly wrote a note found at the scene in which he accused his parents of trying to poison him. At the bottom of the note, the word “pedaphile” was written, though it was unclear what relevance that had to the slayings.

Steven Thompson told police that he took his mother’s medication in an attempt to kill himself because “he could not live with the thoughts of what he had done,” officials said in court documents.

He was remorseful throughout the confession, according to court documents, and at one point asked investigators if he could request the death penalty.

After his arrest, Stephen Thompson was taken to Santa Rita jail in Dublin where he remains in custody without bail. He is scheduled to appear in court Monday for arraignment, the district attorney’s office said.

Kale Williams is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: kwilliams@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfkale