Body found under townhouse deck

Matthew Sutton, 30, shot himself to death Saturday at the Silver Legacy Hotel in Reno, Nev., after admitting to the crime and claiming the body was buried in his backyard, authorities said.

On Monday, Fremont police went to the address where Sutton and his father, Jack, resided from 1980 to 1996. Aided by a police dog, authorities found a corpse buried beneath a redwood deck and about 3 feet of dirt.

The current residents are not connected with the criminal investigation. The new owners, who bought the home in January, were the second buyers since Jack Sutton sold it in 1996, police spokesman Dennis Madsen said.

Jack Sutton, a former optometrist was never reported as missing. His son told neighbors that his father had moved to Santa Fe, N.M., where he was being treated for a terminal illness, The Oakland Tribune reported today.

No one in the neighborhood questioned the son's story.

"That's the saddest thing about this," said one neighbor. "There was nobody close enough to him to notice he was gone."

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