Sleeping Woman Raped, Slain in Nursing Home

An autopsy on an 85-year-old woman who died at a Van Nuys nursing home revealed that she was raped and beaten to death in her bed, authorities said Thursday.

Libbie Noble, who had lived at the retirement home only 10 days, was found dead at 7 a.m. Sunday at the Valley View Retirement Center in the 7700 block of Woodman Avenue, authorities said.

Detectives said there was evidence of trauma when the body was found, including blood on the pillow and a facial bruise. But because the victim was known to have dizzy spells, was on medication and used a walker, detectives initially believed the injuries might have come from a fall.

An elderly roommate, who is legally deaf, apparently slept through the attack.

“Considering that we knew she was unstable on her feet and was new to the room, we thought that she could have gotten up in the night to go to the bathroom and fell,” Lt. Warren Knowles said. “The blood on the pillow looked as though it had come from a bloody nose.”

But because Noble’s nightgown was pulled up and a blanket had been pulled off the bed, police did not immediately classify the death as an accident and ordered an autopsy.

The autopsy conducted Wednesday found evidence of sexual assault and the cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma to the head. The victim had been struck hard enough to knock loose a tooth, police said.

“A suspect or suspects actually came in and beat and raped this elderly woman who was sleeping,” Detective Jim Vojtecky said.

There were no identified suspects in the case and robbery was not a motive, police said.

“The room was not ransacked,” Knowles said. “The victim had rings on her hands that would have been somewhat valuable, and they were not taken.”

No one at the retirement home reported seeing any strangers in the facility before Noble’s body was found, police said. The slaying apparently occurred between 9 p.m. Saturday, when Noble went to bed, and 7 a.m. Sunday, when an attendant attempted to wake her to go to breakfast and church.

Police said there was no sign of forced entry in the second-floor apartment Noble and her roommate shared. But the women usually slept with a sliding door to a balcony opened, police said. The door was found open Sunday morning, and the balcony is accessible from the ground by an emergency escape ladder.

The complex, which has 58 units and about 100 residents, has one staff member on duty at night, police said. Facility managers told police that the center’s ground-level doors are routinely locked at 5 p.m. until the following morning.

On Thursday, a man who said he was the center’s administrator but declined to give his name said he had no comment on the slaying other than to say the facility was safe for its clients.

Because the case is unusual, Vojtecky said, investigators on Thursday sent inquiries throughout the Police Department and other agencies statewide asking for details of any similar crimes.