Wealthy Widow Found Dead in Beverly Hills Mansion, Son Convicted of Murder: ‘He Said He Hated Her’

It was unusual for Violet Yacobi to go days without contacting her family.

The 67-year-old, a recently widowed mother of two grown children and grandmother of one, was nearing the end of a year-long mourning period for her husband Solomon, a physician who died in 2016. She was planning to return to an active social life and visit family in Israel.

Violet, who moved to the U.S. in the 1980s after living in the Soviet Union and Israel, usually called her children—daughter Dina, 56, and son Daniel, 43—or her mother and brothers almost every day.

So when she didn’t respond to a call from her brother on Oct. 10, 2017, about driving her to the mechanic, her family grew worried.

Dina and Daniel, alerted by their uncle, met at the family’s $8 million home in Beverly Hills just after 7 p.m. to check on their mother. There, they made a shocking discovery: Violet was dead, lying on the marble floor near the bottom of the grand staircase.

Police found no sign of forced entry and initially suggested her death was accidental or a suicide.

On what would have been Violet’s 68th birthday, Jan. 8, 2018, Daniel wrote on Facebook: “I know you and Dad are up there smiling down on us.”

The sudden death of the quiet widow saddened friends and neighbors. But when a coroner determined she died from asphyxiation, the family was thrown into shock.

On Feb. 12, 2018, Daniel was arrested and later charged with murdering his mother. Prosecutors said his motivation was greed—he stood to inherit half of Violet’s $12 million estate.

“He choked the life out of her,” said L.A. County Deputy District Attorney Shane Michael at Yacobi’s trial, which began on July 21, 2025, after years of delays. “[He] left her there in her home—the home he lived in as a young person going to high school and when he graduated from college.”

On the surface, the Yacobis seemed like a normal family enjoying a comfortable life in a posh Los Angeles neighborhood.

Violet had spent years raising her children, teaching piano, and shopping with friends, while her husband Solomon was a general practitioner.

“She was the matron of the family,” said real estate consultant Galina Blackman, who occasionally ran into Violet at high-end stores. “She was always taking care of her husband, her kids, her siblings. That’s who she was.”

Daniel graduated from Boston University’s dental school in 2007 and opened a practice in Simi Valley, California, later working at offices across Los Angeles. But by 2015, his business was struggling.

“When he found out I did PR, he tried to get advice,” said patient Trish Brown. “He was struggling to keep the doors open.”

Only a few people seemed aware of tension within the family. Dean Summers, the brother of one of Daniel’s neighbors, testified at the trial that Daniel was deeply depressed before his mother’s death.

“He told me [his parents] pushed him into dentistry, and that he hated being in dentistry, and that his mother was very controlling,” Summers said. “He said he hated his mother and he hated his father.”

Family friend Joseph Mamalinger also told police about a troubling question Daniel asked weeks before Violet died. “We were talking about dental practices and in the middle of that [he said], ‘Hey, what do you know about inheritance tax?’”

Mamalinger replied, “I think your mom is healthy. Why are you asking me that?” He said Daniel, who authorities claim had searched online for “does the choke hold create a bruise?”, became flushed and left.

Prosecutors used geo-location data showing Daniel’s white Jaguar in Beverly Hills and surveillance footage placing the car in the alley behind his mother’s home around 4 p.m. on Oct. 9, 2017. They argued that within four hours, Daniel entered the house and strangled Violet.

Daniel’s defense lawyer claimed a forensic pathologist found evidence Violet died from blunt force trauma, consistent with a fall from a second-story balcony.

It took jurors just one day to find Daniel guilty of first-degree murder and to confirm the special allegation that the killing was for financial gain. Justice for Violet came nearly eight years after her death.

Daniel faces life in prison without parole and will be sentenced on Oct. 3.

“It’s tragic in every way for everyone,” said a friend of Daniel’s. “His daughter lost a father. The family is torn apart. So, there’s no positive outcome.”