Orange : Victim Was Stabbed to Death, Autopsy Shows

An autopsy on the badly decomposed body of a man discovered in his bathtub last week revealed that he had been stabbed to death, police announced Monday.

Robert Alexander Porter, 23, may have been dead “anywhere from one to two weeks” when his body was found Wednesday in his apartment in the 1400 block of East Grove Avenue, Orange Police Sgt. Art Romo said.

Employers at a local fast-food chain called police last week to say that Porter, an assistant manager, had not shown up for work for several days. Police entered the apartment with a passkey and found his body.

Porter’s death was not disclosed publicly until Monday, Romo said, because “when we first found the body, we didn’t know what we had. We didn’t know if it was a suicide or a natural death or what because of the badly decomposed state of the body.”

Missing and perhaps stolen in the attack were the victim’s stereo equipment, television and his car--a white, four-door 1981 Plymouth Fury, license number 2KIW235, Romo said.

Investigators said they have neither motive nor suspects and are seeking information.