'Tarzan' actor Ron Ely's son called 911 after fatally stabbing his mother and tried to pin blame on his 81-year-old father
After stabbing his mother, Valerie Ely, to death, 30-year-old Cameron Ely, placed a 911 call, telling the emergency dispatcher that he had witnessed his father Ron Ely -- who starred as Tarzan on the classic 1966 TV series -- kill his mother.
According to a recording of the call placed on Tuesday, October 15, which was obtained by the Blast, the dispatcher described the original caller as a young male who claimed that his "father tried to attack the mother." What really set off the alarms for law enforcement officers was when the caller hung up and called back a second time.
When the reporting party called back, they sounded "out of breath, unintelligible and crying." Authorities were dispatched to the 4100 Block of Mariposa Drive around 8 pm to investigate a domestic dispute, the sheriff's office revealed, which was the residence of 81-year-old Ely, who starred as Tarzan on the classic 1966 TV series.
As soon as the deputies arrived at Ely's home, they immediately notified that a victim was down due to a "187," the universal police code for murder. The victim was later identified as Valerie, 62, who was found with multiple stab wounds.
The deputies also met Ron inside the house, who was described by the authorities as an "elderly gentleman," with a speech impediment. Despite having difficulty communicating, he reportedly told the investigators that his son had stabbed his wife and fled the scene in a car.
One of the deputies informed Ron that his team was going to search the house as they were not sure if the suspect had left the property after carrying out the attack. Soon the police confronted Cameron outside Ely's Southern California home and fatally shot him.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff later said that the suspect was shot by the deputies because he posed an unspecified threat to the officers. Four of the deputies open fired at the suspect and killed him. Ely was unharmed in the incident and transported to the hospital to get checked out. He is yet to issue any statement regarding his wife or son's death.
Autopsies of both bodies were pending and NBC reported that the department was conducting criminal, coroner's and administrative investigations surrounding the incident.
Besides their son Cameron, Ron and Valerie, shared two daughters, Kirsten and Kaitland, 32.