http://www.ocregister.com/news/scher...-home-iii.html

Poker pro who killed parents subject of 'Dateline NBC'
He will be profiled on “Dateline NBC” Friday night.


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By LOU PONSI / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A double-murder case involving a professional poker player from Brea – convicted in the bludgeoning and stabbing death of his parents – will be the subject of "Dateline NBC" at 10 p.m. Friday.
Ernest Scherer III, 33, was sentenced in May to consecutive life terms for killing Ernest Scherer Jr., 60, and Charlene Abendroth, 57, in their Pleasanton home in March 2008.

Poker player Ernest Scherer III, who lived in Brea, was convicted in March of murdering his parents. Prosecutors said the gambler killed the couple for financial gain.
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The couple may have been dead a week when their bodies were found in the 4,000-square-foot home in Castlewood Country Club.
Prosecutor Michael Nieto had said Scherer III killed his parents because he faced financial pressure from gambling debts in Las Vegas and from the purchase of the $880,000 Brea home.
The poker player stood to collect a $1.5 million inheritance.
The "Dateline NBC" story, as reported by correspondent Keith Morrison, is told through Scherer III's former mistress, Adrian Solomon, who met the high roller in Las Vegas in 2006. Scherer III was married at the time, but Solomon said she was unaware of that.
"I looked to make sure he didn't have a wedding ring as he started to flirt with me a little bit," Solomon tells Morrison, recalling the day they met in a casino. "He gambled enough at the tables and had high enough status that he got free rooms, free meals and show tickets."
According to public records, Scherer III owned a home on Primrose Avenue in Brea from August 2007 to September 2008.
That home was searched on March 22, 2008, according to the Contra Costa Times. Brea police Sgt. Bill Smyser confirmed that his department offered support during the search, which was conducted by Alameda County sheriff's investigators. Scherer was arrested in Las Vegas on Feb. 23, 2009.
The convicted killer is listed on several poker websites. Bluff magazine lists Scherer's winnings as $293,000 in tournaments over five years.