Ex-Husband Accused of Killing Sun Valley Anti-Crime Activist : Arraignment: A Sylmar man pleads not guilty to strangling his ex-wife and putting her nude body on railroad tracks.

A Sun Valley woman whose mangled body was discovered on railroad tracks near her home, raising suspicions that she had been killed in retaliation for her anti-crime activism, was instead strangled by her ex-husband, authorities said Tuesday.

William Edward Stevens, 48, of Sylmar pleaded not guilty in San Fernando Court Municipal Court last Thursday to charges that he killed Rufina Stevens, 47, as she walked home from a grocery on Feb. 10, Los Angeles Police Detective Mike Coffey said.

Coffey said Stevens had a history of physically abusing Rufina Stevens. Since their divorce about three years ago, Stevens repeatedly threatened his ex-wife, Coffey said, and she obtained several restraining orders against him.

Police arrested him last week because his statements about the night of the killing were inconsistent, Coffey said. He refused to elaborate.

Stevens’ two daughters, Michelle and Nichole, initially believed that their mother was killed because of her anti-crime work.

Rufina Stevens, a Pacific Bell engineering aide who lived in a green bungalow near Burbank Airport for 21 years, refused to be intimidated by the rising crime rate in her neighborhood. She was active in Neighborhood Watch, spent weekends painting over graffiti and scolded anyone she saw breaking the law.

Her daughters said she was blind to the dangers around her and ignored their warnings that it was unsafe for her to walk alone at night. On the night she was killed, Stevens had gone to the supermarket by bus.

Police believe that she was confronted by her ex-husband as she walked home from the bus stop.

After strangling her, police said, William Stevens placed his ex-wife’s naked body on the railroad tracks, where it was struck by a Southern Pacific train. Police found her clothing a short distance away. Stevens is being held without bail at the County Jail.