Villa Park : 150 Attend Burial Rite for Slain Mother of 3

About 150 people attended a private burial service on Sunday for Helen Schwartz, the 53-year-old Villa Park mother of three who was shot to death by an intruder in her home last week.

The slaying took place Wednesday afternoon as the woman and her husband, George, were entering their house on Adams Ranch Road. An armed burglar who had ransacked the house and was still inside it fired several shots at Helen Schwartz, fatally wounding her.

The assailant fled and is still being sought.

Rabbi George Schlesinger of Temple Beth Emet in Anaheim conducted the funeral services at Mount Olive-Harbor Lawn Memorial Park in Costa Mesa.

Graveside eulogies were given by Schlesinger and Deann Schwartz, 19, one of the victim’s three children. Schlesinger, after the funeral, said that his remarks remembered Helen Schwartz as a “loving mother who was devoted to her husband and her faith.” He said he described her death as “a senseless act.”

Helen Schwartz’s other two children are Jeffrey, 22, and Ricky, 17. She was a native of Edmonton, Canada.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department said Sunday that the search is continuing for the murderer. The suspect, according to the sheriff’s office, was described as Latino, about 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighing 150 pounds and with black hair, a moustache and a scraggly beard.