Irvine : Public’s Help Sought in Woman’s Slaying

Orange County Sheriff’s Department officials are asking for public assistance in their investigation into the murder of a woman whose body was found Dec. 7 in a suitcase alongside Jeffrey Road in Irvine.

Michele Marie Sagel, 24, who was identified through fingerprints, was known to use the name Christine Hansen and believed to frequent Inglewood and Los Angeles. Few other leads have been uncovered during the two-week investigation, according to sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Dick Olson.

Because an autopsy did not reveal the cause of death, investigators are still waiting for the results of a toxicological test, which could take another three to four weeks, Olson said.

Sagel, described as 5 feet 4, blond and blue-eyed, was wearing a blue T-shirt and pants when her body was discovered at 7 a.m. along Jeffrey Road east of the Santa Ana Freeway.

Citizens with information about Sagel may contact the Sheriff’s Department at (714) 834-3000.