Buena Park Couple Beaten by Phony Car Buyer

An elderly Buena Park couple were seriously injured Friday morning when they were beaten by a man who had come to their home on the pretext of buying their son’s sports car, a police spokesman said.

Officer Terry Branum said the man, who had been at the couple’s home on Wednesday to look at their son’s 1976 white Porsche, which the couple were trying to sell, called them Friday morning to say he wanted to inspect the car again.

When he arrived at 9:30 a.m., he told Clyde Elmore Clodfelder, 70, and his wife, Cathleen Anita Clodfelder, 62, that he wanted to buy the car and the couple invited the man into the house, Branum said.

Clodfelder signed the car title over to the man, who then reached into his pocket and brandished a knife, prompting Clodfelder to instantly tear up the signed slip, Branum said.

“Then the guy picks up a cane, beats the victim and his wife over the head a couple of times,” Branum said.

After tying the couple up with telephone and lamp cords, the intruder took the car keys and drove away in the Porsche, Branum said.

The assailant, described as about 30 years old with dark brown hair and a mustache, abandoned the car at an apartment complex in La Palma and fled.

The couple untied themselves and called police from a neighbor’s house. They were taken to La Palma Intercommunity Hospital, where they were listed in serious condition with head injuries. The man had a four-inch gash on his head and suffered a possible concussion, Branum said.