Anonymous Caller Tips Police : Santa Ana Woman Slain at Home

A 52-year-old woman was bludgeoned to death in the back apartment of her Santa Ana home, police said Tuesday.

Just before midnight Monday, an anonymous caller told police someone might have been killed and gave the address of Mary Gunn in the 1400 block of North Louise Street. Police found Gunn’s body on the floor of the back apartment, which she rented out.

She had been beaten with a blunt object, police spokeswoman Maureen Thomas said. Police did not find the weapon and do not have a suspect, Thomas said.

Some neighbors told police that they had heard loud arguing in Gunn’s home about 10:30 p.m. Monday, Thomas said.

She also said that Gunn’s car, a 1985 Lincoln Continental, was missing and considered stolen.

Gunn, who bought the bungalow home four years ago and lived there with her 14-year-old son, worked during the day at an insurance company and during the night at a Mexican restaurant that she recently bought, or was planning to buy, according to Lupe Gonzales, a neighbor.

“She was very hard-working, always trying to move to better herself so she wouldn’t have to worry about income. That’s why this is so hard to understand,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales, 56, and her son, Oscar, 25, said they heard no noise Monday night.

“When the police came over and spoke to me I was shocked because I didn’t hear anything and at the time they said it happened I was watching television,” Oscar Gonzales said.

The Gonzaleses said several people had rented Gunn’s back apartment in the last four years. The most recent tenants were a young couple who moved in a few weeks ago.

The Gonzaleses said they enjoyed Gunn as their neighbor, but said that some of her tenants brought more traffic to the area.

Oscar Gonzales also said he had warned Gunn that renting part of her home was illegal because the street is not zoned for duplexes, and that he wouldn’t hesitate to report the violation to the city if the tenants got out of hand. But it never came to that, he said.

“This is a beautiful, peaceful street,” Lupe Gonzales said. “We have a beautiful relationship with our neighbors.”

Eugene Holderman, who lives down the street from the Gunn home, described the residents of the neighborhood as mostly senior citizens, widows and families. He added that Gunn was the only one he knew who rented a room in her house in the neighborhood, known as Washington Square.

Mike Lynd, who once owned Gunn’s home, said there is a bedroom and bathroom in the back apartment.

“It’s connected to the house, but it could be sealed off, and it has its own entrance in the back,” said Lynd, who still lives on the street in a different house.