Rossmoor Man’s Body Found in Trunk of Car

The body of a Rossmoor man was found Thursday stuffed into the trunk of his car, 15 hours after his girlfriend returned home to find blood on the floor of his garage and reported him missing, authorities said.

Homicide investigators discovered Richard William Hopking, 61, apparently abducted from home in his own car, dead with head wounds after they found his 1975 Cadillac in downtown Compton, Sheriff’s Lt. Richard J. Olson said.

“At this time we have no motive and are trying to develop suspect information,” Olson said. The exact cause of death was pending until the results of an autopsy.

Neighbors along the quiet 3200 block of Oak Grove Drive said they were astonished at the killing.

“It just doesn’t happen in this area,” said Ann McMenamin, who lives next door to Hopking. “This is a quiet community devoted to families. . . . (It’s) a real shocker for everyone.”

According to Olson, Priscilla Roberts, 39, returned home at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to find Hopking, her 16-year-old daughter and the car missing. She found the blood and called police.

Olson offered only sketchy information on what followed:

Roberts’ daughter had entertained friends at the house earlier Wednesday and “was not at home where she was supposed to be” when her mother returned, he said. He had no explanation for where the girl was at the time of the slaying, stating only that she was unharmed and staying with relatives in “the Southern California area.” He declined to release her name or to say whether she had been abducted by the killers.

Sheriff’s deputies found the car Thursday morning after issuing a bulletin to Southern California police describing the car, Olson said.

Hopking and Roberts had moved into the comfortable, one-story home in September with Roberts’ two daughters, neighbor Milt McMenamin said.

The couple had told him that they planned to marry, he said.

The 16-year-old daughter--whom the McMenamins’ son, Matt, knew as a senior at Los Alamitos High School named Rachel--met two young men at a Cerritos shopping mall two weeks ago, Matt McMenamin said.

The well-dressed pair became frequent visitors to the neighborhood in their blue Camaro, he said: “The two guys used to come back and forth all the time. They’d listen to music with her. I just figured they were friends.”

Neighbors said the last they saw of Hopking, he was mowing his lawn Wednesday afternoon while the two men were visiting with Roberts’ daughter.

According to the McMenamins, a neighbor down the street later saw Rachel standing outside the house on the curb, crying. Then she backed the Cadillac from the driveway into the garage and closed the door.

A short while later, the garage door opened and the Cadillac sped away, hitting a curb on its way out. Rachel was in the car, and one of the men was driving, according to neighbors.

“I’ve been here close to 20 years now . . . “ Milt McMenamin said, his voice trailing off as he shook his head.

”. . . And nothing like that,” finished his wife.