SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A Paradise Hills man suspected of killing his estranged wife and two young children before injuring himself died in a hospital early Thursday, police said.
Clarence Blunt, 55, died at Paradise Valley Hospital early Thursday morning, according to San Diego police.
Officers found a critically injured Blunt after going to his family's home in the 2400 block of Luther Street on Sunday, Lt. Ernie Herbert said, adding that Blunt had attempted suicide.
Also found in the home was Blunt's estranged 33-year-old wife, Lilly, and children Linna Blunt, 3, and Richard Blunt, 7 months. Herbert said all three were the victims of homicide.
How they were killed was not immediately released. A county coroner official said this morning that records in the case have been sealed.
Police were called to the family's home at 5:50 p.m. Sunday by an extended family member who reported that attempts to contact anyone at the home in southeastern San Diego near National City had been unsuccessful.
Court records showed Lilly Blunt filed for divorce from her husband on Aug. 3., citing irreconcilable differences. She also obtained a restraining order against him, claiming he hit and threatened her, drained their bank accounts and got her fired from her job as a hospital nurse with false theft allegations.
Lilly Blunt's sister, Kim Thuy Nguyen, told U-T San Diego that the victim was persuaded over the weekend by her husband to meet with him and some members of his church to try marriage reconciliation.
Clarence Blunt's extensive criminal past has been widely reported since his wife and children were found slain.
In 1973, a then-17-year-old Blunt was convicted of killing a parking lot attendant with a hatchet. He was incarcerated from 1975 to 1984, when he was paroled.
He also had robbery, burglary and theft convictions, as well as domestic violence cases filed against him, and spent additional time in and out of jail, U-T San Diego reported. It was unclear whether any of those previous domestic violence cases involved Lilly Blunt.
Court records showed Clarence Blunt suffered from a personality disorder, and was abused and neglected as a child. Earlier this week, National City police said he was a suspect, but never charged, is two cold case murders: one involving the 1974 stabbing death of a 7-Eleven clerk and the other, the 1989 death of Blunt's then-girlfriend Gertrude Richardson, who was also stabbed.