Gabriella Rebecca Riemer “laughed hysterically” when Berkeley police officers played her a recording of her 911 call reporting she had stabbed her own mother, according to court records filed by city police.
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office charged Riemer Wednesday with murder and several aggravating factors, which may affect sentencing if Riemer is convicted.
City police arrested Riemer, 23, on Sunday after receiving a report of a stabbing victim in the 1300 block of University Avenue around 2:45 p.m. Sunday, they said previously.
When officers arrived they found Riemer “covered in blood” in the lobby of the apartment building where she lived with her mother, according to a declaration of probable cause from city police.
Officers found Reimer’s mother, 60-year-old Heather Haunani Riemer, with “multiple fatal stab wounds,” according to police and court records. Berkeley Fire Department personnel declared the elder Riemer dead at the scene, police said previously.
Officers took the younger Riemer to police headquarters where she told them “that she did not remember much of what had occurred that day,” according to the declaration. “Detectives played audio where Gabriella told BPD dispatchers that she had stabbed her mother in self-defense. Gabriella laughed hysterically during the playing of this recording,” according to the declaration.
Surveillance video showed mother and daughter walking to their apartment shortly before 1:15 p.m., about an hour and a half before the initial 911 call, police said.
Riemer is scheduled for arraignment Thursday morning at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland, according to jail records. She has been held without bail since her arrest.
