A 65-year-old man has been sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison for fatally shooting his Long Beach neighbor apparently under the belief the neighbor had been breaking into his apartment to tamper with his food, according to court records.
John Tolliver Higginbotham pleaded no contest to second-degree murder on Jan. 27 in the killing of Maxwell Fromm, 72, court records show. The two lived in an apartment complex in the 700 block of East First Street.
Around 12:30 p.m. on July 10, 2024, officers found Fromm dead inside his apartment.
When Long Beach police detectives talked with Higginbotham in his apartment, according to court documents, he told officers, “My hands are up! It’s right there,” an apparent reference to a firearm sitting on furniture.
That black 9-millimeter handgun was later determined to be a “ghost” gun, or one that does not have a serial number.
Higginbotham told detectives that he believed the victim was poisoning his food and vandalizing his blue Honda Civic, detectives wrote in search-warrant documents.
Inside his apartment, detectives found a clear, glass pipe with an off-white charred substance lining the inside and a clear plastic baggie containing a substance believed to be methamphetamine, detectives wrote.
Higginbotham has remained in custody since his arrest.