---
title: "Elderly Woman Blamed for Keying ‘Dozens’ of Cars in Month-Long Spree"
description: "It's the latest in seniors behaving badly: A 75-year-old woman has been arrested by police in San Diego after authorities say she methodically keyed dozens of cars in her neighborhood over several months, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage, NBC San Diego reports."
date: "2018-02-21"
modified: "2018-02-21"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/18659/elderly-woman-blamed-for-keying-dozens-of-cars-in-month-long-spree"
categories:
  - "News"
tags:
  - "California"
  - "Crime"
  - "seniors"
---

# Elderly Woman Blamed for Keying ‘Dozens’ of Cars in Month-Long Spree

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2018/02/woman-key.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

It's the latest in [seniors behaving badly:](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/12775/79-year-old-woman-cited-for-driving-her-porsche-149-mph>) A 75-year-old woman has been arrested by police in San Diego after authorities say she methodically keyed dozens of cars in her neighborhood over the last month, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage, [*NBC San Diego* reports.](<https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Police-Elderly-Woman-Keys-Dozens-of-Cars-in-Scripps-Ranch--474518543.html>)

Keying a car is a [pretty terrible thing](<https://www.thedrive.com/culture/3231/pop-culture-says-if-you-cheat-a-famous-female-recording-artist-will-smash-your-car-windows>) to do, which is why residents of the Scripps Ranch neighborhood told reporters they never suspected the [kindly old woman](<https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/12463/watch-a-79-year-old-woman-take-a-formula-1-car-for-a-spin>) who was always seen walking around when huge scratches started popping up on people's cars. The scratches reportedly differed in severity, but fixing the damage was never cheap, and the mystery vandal eventually struck at least 30 cars in the area.

https://twitter.com/_/status/965379538774458368

Paranoia in the neighborhood grew as people struggled to make sense of the spree. Some thought it was a group of rogue teens, but officials say the real identity of the San Diego Slicer was 75-year-old Emilia Bello. Bello was arrested on Sunday and charged with felony vandalism after a neighbor spotted her in the act and called police.

It's no [retirement community golf cart chop shop,](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/11817/florida-swat-team-finds-drugs-golf-cart-chop-shop-in-retirement-community-raid>) but the image of a grandmother strolling around and idly keying cars for no reason is a strange fit. Police reportedly haven't identified a motive, other than that some people [just want to watch the world burn.](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efHCdKb5UWc>)

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)