Local News in Brief : Dead Woman May Have Been Reported Missing
Awoman found dead in a car in a Panorama City parking lot late Monday may be the same person who was reported missing Saturday from a North Hollywood residence, authorities said.
Although the woman has not been identified and the cause of her death is not known, Los Angeles police say she may be a 26-year-old Hispanic woman reported missing by a man who telephoned police on Saturday but did not give his name. The man said the woman disappeared last Wednesday evening.
Police officers were sent to the lot at Chase Street and Woodman Avenue about 9:20 p.m. Monday after being told by a Malibu Sheriff’s Station deputy that a Malibu resident had reported finding the body, police Officer John Payton said.
Sheriff’s Lt. Clarence Chapman said a Malibu resident told deputies that she found the body about 8:15 p.m. but waited until she arrived home before reporting it.
The partially covered and fully clothed, decomposing body was found on the back seat of a locked, yellow 1977 Ford Pinto, Payton said. There was no identification on the body.
Police said there was no sign of violence but the case is being treated as a homicide.
An autopsy is scheduled for today to determine how the woman died, police said.
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