Police Say Teenager Killed Mother, Then Spent Week Partying

A 17-year-old male who held nightly parties at home for a week following his mother’s disappearance was arrested for investigation of murder after her weighted-down body was found in a rock quarry.

Matt Schultz strangled Barbara Schultz after an argument July 21, then enlisted the help of two friends to tie up the body, place chains and weights on it, and lower it with a rope around the ankles into the murky green water, police said Monday.

The partially submerged body, which was fully clothed, was found Saturday by several teenagers who went to the quarry for a swim.

Last week, Schultz threw one party after another, according to neighbors in this community about 20 miles northeast of Sacramento.

“There were literally packs of teens living there while she was missing,” said Patrice Cobbledick, who lives across the street. “When she was missing all last week, we knew that nothing good was going to come of all this.”

Barbara Schultz, a 40-year-old production worker at a business that manufactures counter tops, lived alone with her son. Neighbors recalled loud arguments between the two.

When Barbara Schultz returned home on July 21 from a one-week vacation, she found the house full of teenagers and threw them out, according to Cobbledick and another neighbor, Cruzita Valdez.

The argument apparently turned violent. Police said Schultz attacked his mother, stashed the body in a bedroom and went to his job at a restaurant. Later, he allegedly got friends to help dispose of the corpse.