Brea : Dead Woman Found in Car; Driver Arrested

A Whittier man was arrested on suspicion of felony hit-and-run driving, felony drunk driving and murder after police stopped his car and found a dead woman in the passenger seat, authorities said Sunday.

Ted Lavack Jr., 51, was arrested about noon Saturday in an industrial complex in the 3000 block of East Birch Street, Brea Police Sgt. Ed McDonald said.

While details were still sketchy, McDonald said Lavack was spotted by police driving erratically along Birch Street in a 1975 Ford station wagon. The car was followed to the industrial complex, and the woman’s body was discovered.

Two witnesses told police that they had seen the station wagon cause a traffic accident at the corner of Kraemer Boulevard and Birch Street, McDonald said.

A coroner’s deputy later determined that the victim had died “some time before the accident,” McDonald said.

The woman’s identity was being withheld pending notification of relatives.

Paramedics who went to the traffic accident site took George and Sheila Dauphin, both 40, of Yorba Linda to Placentia Community Hospital, where they were treated and released.

Lavack was being held without bail in the Brea City Jail, McDonald said. An investigation is continuing.