Southland : Wife Beaten to Death With Bottle

A Santa Ana man was arrested this morning after his wife was beaten to death with an empty champagne bottle. Their 13-month-old daughter, who was in her mother’s arms during the beating, was placed on a life-support system with head injuries.

Joseph Peter Lynch, 43, called police about 12:30 a.m. to say that someone had been killed at his apartment in the 700 block of West First Street, Santa Ana Police spokeswoman Maureen Thomas said. Officers found Helen Lynch, 35, on the living room floor, dead of massive head injuries. In her arms was the couple’s daughter, Natalie Alexandra Lynch, who had also been beaten on the head with the bottle, Thomas said.

The couple’s two other daughters, ages 4 and 9, were asleep in the bedroom when their mother was slain. Neighbors said this morning that officers took the daughters out of the apartment through the bedroom window so they wouldn’t see their mother’s beaten body.

Thomas said that Lynch, an engineer, is a Scottish citizen and that his wife was an Australian citizen. They had lived in the United States for about four years. Lynch was booked into Orange County Jail, and bail was set at $250,000.