Inmate accused in stabbing death of another prisoner

A prison inmate, serving a life term for killing his mother in Rocklin almost a decade ago, is suspected of fatally stabbing another inmate.Steven Matthew Schultz, 28, allegedly used a homemade stabbing device Thursday to slash the throat of convicted sex offender Shannon Lee Graling, 53, at the California State Prison-Sacramento in Folsom.Schultz is serving a 26-years-to-life sentence for the 1997 murder of his mother. Officials said Schultz, who was 17 years old at the time, strangled his 40-year-old mother Barbara Schultz in their Rocklin home. Her body was found July 26, 1997 chained to a propane tank and weighted down in a stagnant water-filled quarry behind Greenbrae Road in Rocklin.Lt. Judy Loer, of the California State prison-Sacramento, said Friday that the prison incident occurred around 8 a.m. Thursday in the maximum-security yard.Graling was working in the block and part of his duties is to push the laundry cart and exchange the laundry, Loer said. He was in the process of doing that when he was assaulted.Schultz allegedly slashed the throat of Graling who was serving a 400-plus year sentence for child multiple molestation offenses, officials said.Graling was serving a 400-year sentence for five counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14. He also received a 25-years-to-life sentence on Nov. 19, 1997 from Santa Cruz County for failure to register as a sex offender and had a prior 1988 six-year conviction from Santa Cruz County under the name Edward Gail Neal for lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, Loer said. The case is being investigated as a homicide by the prison's Investigative Services Unit and Sacramento County District Attorney investigators. Loer said violence is common in prison, but homicides are rare.We do have frequent stabbings and assaults that don't result in homicide, she said.During the investigation into Thursday's attack Schulz will be housed in a segregated area of the prison. Schulz has provided no motive for the reported killing, officials said.In 1997 four Sacramento teenagers found the body of Barbara Schultz. According to Journal reports, Steven Schultz got into an argument with his mother and it turned violent.Schultz hit and then strangled Barbara Schultz with a cord. He then bound her arms and legs, put a bag over her head and put her body under a blanket in a bedroom before going to work. After returning from work at an area restaurant, Schultz called two of his friends to help him dispose of the body, according to a July 29 Journal article.Bill Hertoghe, a Rocklin Police captain at the time of the murder, said It was a cold-blooded killing.Penne Usher can be reached at penneu@goldcountrymedia.com or post a comment on auburnjournal.com.