Local News in Brief : Slain Man’s Stolen Car Found in Simi Valley

A Mercedes-Benz owned by the operator of a topless bar in Santa Ana who was shot to death on New Year’s Day has been found in Simi Valley, police said Wednesday.

The car belonging to Jimmy Lee Casino was discovered in the parking lot of a medical center on Sycamore Street by workers who said it had been there several days, apparently abandoned, said Officer Terry Branum of the Buena Park Police Department, which is investigating the killing.

The Mercedes will be dusted today for fingerprints by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Branum said.

Detectives are hoping fingerprints may lead them to the two men believed to have fatally shot the 48-year-old Casino in his Buena Park condominium shortly before midnight Jan. 1. Police have not given a motive for the killing.

Three men were arrested after a credit card stolen from Casino was used at the Broadway department store in the Topanga Plaza mall in Canoga Park, but they were released for lack of evidence.

Casino’s Chevrolet Camaro, also taken at the time of his killing, was found the next day, abandoned on the Artesia Freeway. The killers left Casino’s Rolls-Royce untouched in the garage of his home.