‘He broke’: 93-year-old Fremont man told police he spent month planning to kill wife, docs say

FREMONT — Until police say he made a chilling confession this week, Richard Hocking had lived a life of relative obscurity.

He moved to Fremont with his wife more than 50 years ago, settling in a three-bedroom home he purchased on Drury Court. To his family, he was known as a hard-working man who had a knack for fixing and building things, when he wasn’t racing his Shelby Cobra.

Around the neighborhood he’s called home since 1971, he was frequently seen picking up litter around Blacom Park and the nearby elementary school.