Cause of Death Still Unknown : Police Believe Woman Was Slain in Her Home

A woman whose body was found in the trunk of her locked car in San Clemente on Wednesday had probably been murdered in her Capistrano Beach home, investigators said Friday.

It still was not known how 59-year-old Emily Mae Lombard died, but San Clemente Police Lt. Al Ehlow said she had been bludgeoned about the head, contrary to initial police reports that she had suffered no visible wounds.

Detectives bearing search warrants gathered some property from the white-haired woman’s home on Via Sacramento, which she shared with her 25-year-old son Matthew James Lombard, Ehlow said.

“They didn’t find anything significant in the car,” Ehlow said Friday after investigators searched Mrs. Lombard’s Ford Maverick.

Ehlow said Mrs. Lombard had been reported missing Monday by Matthew Lombard, who told police he had last seen his mother about 9:30 p.m. last Friday when she left a family friend’s dinner party in Capistrano Beach. The son told police that when he arrived home 11 hours later, his mother and her car were gone, police said.

Mrs. Lombard’s car was found parked on a residential street in San Clemente Wednesday and, at the request of Mrs. Lombard’s 28-year-old son Robert, officers met him and Matthew at the car to check the trunk. Mrs. Lombard’s body was found clad in a nightgown and lying on a blanket.