Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Murder Charges In Tech Coast Angel Death
The San Diego Police Department said Wednesday that murder charges have been filed in the death of John G. Watson, a member of the San Diego Tech Coast Angels, who was found dead in June. According to authorities, Kent Thomas Keigwin, age 59, has been charged by the San Diego County District Attorney's Office with the murder of Watson, who had been found by fellow angel investors when he failed to show for a meeting. Keigwin had originally been jailed on June 11th on fraud charges for stealing $7.5M from one of Watson's brokerage accounts, when he unexpectedly showed up at Watson's residence in the early morning hours as homicide detectives were still gathering evidence from the death scene.
The murder charges follow the release of information from the San Diego County Medical Examiner, finding that Watson died of suffocation, due to strangulation. Watson was a retired pharmaceutical industry CEO.
Watson was also in charge of the San Diego Tech Coast Angels Quick Pitch event, which allows local entrepreneurs to pitch their startups to angel investors and others. The Tech Coast Angels is one of the largest angel investment groups in the country, and is a major source of funding and mentoring of early stage ventures in Southern California.