| | Published July 4th, 2012
| Murder Charge Filed Against Orinda Resident
| | Laurie Snyder |  | | James Collin, 62, is taken into custody by Orinda Police Detective Danny Jeffries, following the murder of 56-year-old Evangeline Cumbe Devera.
Photo Tod Fierner
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"Why?" is the question many are asking in a community that has not seen a homicide since 2002. Although no motive has been offered by police or prosecutors, the victim of a fatal daytime domestic dispute June 26 has now been identified.
She was 56-year-old Orinda resident Evangeline Cumbe Devera, and she was allegedly killed by the 62-year-old man with whom she had been living for at least 10 years at 626 Moraga Way.
"I filed a felony complaint against Mr. James Collin today," said Deputy District Attorney Lynn Uilkema, who handled Collin's arraignment. "His first appearance was this afternoon [June 28] in Contra Costa County Superior Court; he did not enter a plea and was referred to the public defender's office." Collin was charged with the "murder of Evangeline Devera in Orinda, CA with an enhancement for personal use of a deadly/dangerous weapon ... a machete."
According to Jimmy Lee, public affairs director for the Contra Costa Sheriff's office, an autopsy was conducted the morning of June 27 with Devera's cause of death listed as "blunt force and sharp force injury of head."
Collin will make his next court appearance July 9 in Department 25 at 8:30 a.m. for counsel and plea, said Uilkema. He is being held on $1 million bail at the main county jail in Martinez.
No further word is available on the condition of the elderly neighbor who fell ill roughly 30 minutes after reporting the incident to police.
If you have information about the case, call the Sheriff's investigators at (925) 313-2600.
| Domestic Violence Resources
Contra Costa County 24-Hour Domestic Crisis Line: (888) 215-5555
Am I Being Abused? (from Stand! For Families Free of Violence): www.standffov.org/stayinformed/needtoknow_signs.html
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA