Local News in Brief : Anaheim : Suspect Confesses to Killing, Police Say

A 22-year-old man reportedly confessed Wednesday to killing a mental hospital patient whose body was found Monday by a passer-by.

Anaheim police said Derek Brown, an Anaheim resident who worked at a manufacturing firm, phoned homicide detectives at 11:35 a.m. Wednesday to “turn himself in” and “admit his involvement” in the death of Jackson Hewitt Sturman, 59.

Sturman, a transient, had been reported missing from the Therapeutic Residential Center in Anaheim about 1 a.m. Monday. His body was found by a passer-by a few hours later lying in bushes in the 200 block of South Beach Boulevard, police said.

Police said Sturman had apparently been beaten to death. The county Coroner’s Office has not yet listed an exact cause.

Detectives agreed to meet Brown at the Rainbow Inn on South Beach Boulevard. After a short interview, Brown was arrested on suspicion of murder and booked into the city’s temporary detention center, where he was being held in lieu of $250,000 bail, Sgt. Tom Beardman said.

Lt. Peter De Paola said investigators believe Brown is the only suspect. They have determined no motive in the killing, however, he said.

Sturman was last seen wearing a blue denim jacket, a white dress shirt, blue dress pants and a wide-brimmed straw hat. Anyone who may have seen him before his death is asked to call Anaheim Police Detective Dave Tuttle at (714) 999-1972 or (714) 999-1900.