Woman Is Found Slashed, Beaten to Death in Home

A woman was found beaten and slashed to death in her blood-splattered Huntington Beach condominium about 1 p.m. Saturday by neighbors who heard her screams.

The identity of the woman, who was about 50 years old, was not being released until police could notify her family.

Neighbors told police that they had seen a blond man in his 20s in the woman’s home in the 1400 block of Arrow Lane and then had seen him drive away in her Mercedes.

Chris Lucas, 34, who lives on an adjoining street, said he heard “shrieks and screams” coming from the the woman’s home and saw at least one other neighbor run immediately to her door.

“The door was slammed in his face, and that neighbor ran back to get more help,” Lucas said. “When he ran back to the place--it was only a minute or so--he said he saw a young man driving out of her garage. The young man was driving her Mercedes.”

Police later found the Mercedes abandoned a short distance away.

Lucas said that he didn’t go into the woman’s condominium but that he was told by neighbors who did that her “head had been badly bashed by a crystal vase or something like that . . . her throat also had cuts.”

Police, who confirmed that the woman had been beaten, said Saturday night that they were trying to locate the victim’s husband to notify him of his wife’s death.

Police cordoned off the area, where three short streets encircle two-story condominiums that are priced in the range of $160,000 to $180,000, according to neighbors. The quiet, tree-shaded area is about a block west of Beach Boulevard and about a mile from the ocean.

“We never have any disturbances in this area,” said one neighbor, who asked that her name not be used.

Another neighbor, a woman who also asked that her name not be used, described the victim as “very, very nice . . . a very good friend once she got to know you.”

The victim was a board member of the property owners’ association and was “very strict about enforcing the rules,” the neighbor said. “But that’s why my husband and I liked her: She enforced the rules. I mean, she was fair but she was just strict.”

Late Saturday afternoon, neighbors huddled outside their homes, talking among themselves. “Who could that man have been?” asked one neighbor. Answered another, “I just hope he doesn’t come back.”