Local News in Brief : L.A. Estonian Activist Found Beaten to Death
An activist in Los Angeles’ Estonian community was found beaten to death in the bedroom of her North Hollywood home, police said Monday.
The body of Viivi Piirisild, 52, was found Thursday afternoon in her home in the 6900 block of Goodland Avenue, Detective David Crews said. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office listed her cause of death as multiple traumatic injuries.
Crews said the home had been broken into, but little evidence was found that could lead police to a suspect or a motive in the slaying.
The victim’s husband, Avo Piirisild, was out of town at the time of the killing, police said. Viivi Piirisild’s body was found by a friend, Bernard Nurmsen, who said he went to check on her after Avo Piirisild called him and said he could not contact his wife.
Nurmsen, president of the Estonian Society of Los Angeles, said the slain woman was well-known through her connections to Estonian radio programs and publications in the Los Angeles area. He said Avo and Viivi Piirisild also helped form the national Baltic American Freedom League several years ago.
Piirisild and her parents left their northern European country during World War II to escape the advancing Soviet army. In 1944, the Red Cross rescue ship carrying them across the Baltic Sea was torpedoed by a Soviet ship.
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