Apparent Homicide Victim Identified

Glendale police on Friday identified an apparent homicide victim found in an East Wilson Avenue house as Jimmie T. Noda, 67, a self-employed gardener.

Lt. Roger Brown said investigators believe Noda was killed late Wednesday or early Thursday in the house where he lived alone.

Brown said police were still trying to determined why Noda’s blood-stained Toyota Camry was found in the parking lot of a Denny’s restaurant on Sherman Way in Van Nuys.

Restaurant employees alerted police early Thursday when they found the car with its driver’s door and trunk open and blood inside. The car was registered to Noda. Glendale officers entered Noda’s house and found his body.

Brown said investigators have not determined whose blood was in the car or why the vehicle was at the restaurant. “We can only speculate that someone had a reason to go to that area,” he said. “We haven’t established any motive yet.”

The cause of death will not be known until the Los Angeles County coroner’s staff completes an autopsy in the next two or three days, but coroner’s spokesman Bob Dambacher said Noda appeared to have been cut or stabbed.

Brown said Friday that no arrests had been made.

Noda’s residence was part of a duplex. The victim’s sister, Emiko Noda, lived in the other unit, but Brown said she has been traveling in Japan.