Local News in Brief : Slaying Victim Is From Newhall; Suspect Held

A man found stabbed to death in a van in Sepulveda on Saturday has been identified as Steve Blankenship, 23, of Newhall, Los Angeles police said Monday.

Lt. Al Durrer said a Van Nuys woman who called police at 5:40 a.m. to report that she was the victim of a robbery later admitted that she had stabbed Blankenship, an acquaintance, several times. She led detectives to Blankenship’s body, which was in a van parked near Nordhoff Street and Sepulveda Boulevard, Durrer said.

The woman, Charmaine Licue Turk, 36, was arrested on suspicion of murder and was being held without bail in Van Nuys Jail, Durrer said. Investigators do not know the motive for the stabbing, he said.