Girl Killed in Burglary Was Stabbed, Officials Say : Crime: Investigators believe Autumn Wallace, who was home alone, tried to hide when intruders broke in. Her mother found the body in a bathroom. Neighbors are stunned.

A 9-year-old girl, killed during a burglary while waiting alone for her mother to come home from work, was stabbed to death, according to preliminary results of an autopsy completed Saturday.

Lt. Richard J. Olson, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman, said coroner’s officials reached the tentative conclusion during the continuing investigation into the death of Autumn Wallace, whose body was found by her mother about 5:45 p.m. Friday.

“Preliminary findings show that she died of multiple stab wounds,” said Olson, who declined to elaborate on the murder weapon or the number of times the girl was stabbed. Earlier reports had indicated she had been beaten to death.

Investigators suspect that Autumn was killed when one or more intruders broke into the Wallace home while the girl was alone, waiting for her mother and sister. Neighbors last saw her playing in front of her home on Hudlund Drive in an unincorporated area between Stanton and Anaheim.

So far, no arrests have been made and no suspects have been located, Olson said. “About all I can say is that the investigation is continuing. We are going to do this as thoroughly as we can. There is no other way with this.”

Autumn’s 18-year-old sister, April, said she arrived home from work about 5:20 p.m. Friday and entered the house through a garage door. She said she immediately noticed that things were missing from the house and from her room, including a TV, videotape recorder, microwave oven, a mirror and some personal belongings.

Frightened, April went across the street to a neighbor’s house and asked whether they had seen anything unusual. Before she left her house, she noticed that a light in the back bathroom of the house was on but did not think anything of it at the time, she recalled later.

The mother, Linda Wallace, 42, came home from her job as a clerk at Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana about 20 minutes later. Olson said she searched the house and discovered her daughter’s body in the bathroom.

When Linda Wallace found the girl, she started screaming and left the house, said Kathy Decker, 25, who lives across the street from the Wallaces. Her husband then dialed 911 and told dispatchers that there had been a burglary and that a “little girl was hurt very badly.”

Randall Decker, 28, said sheriff’s investigators told the family that the girl probably saw the intruders enter the home and ran into the bathroom to hide.

At the ransacked home Saturday, sheriff’s investigators continued searching through scattered family belongings for clues in the slaying.

Meanwhile, residents in the neat, middle-class community questioned why their quiet neighborhood was a target for such a senseless crime.

“This is not a rich neighborhood, it’s pretty working class,” Randall Decker said. “It’s very quiet and peaceful, a lot of kids. The neighbors here watch out for everybody else.”

Decker said Autumn was a fixture in the community; everyone knew her and she always had a ready smile and hello. She loved to play basketball with other neighborhood children and frequently used the basketball hoop atop the Deckers’ garage, he said.

Autumn’s father died three years ago of cancer, family members said.

“She and her mother were very close, especially since her father died,” said Kathy Decker. “Autumn and her father were very close. They loved to go fishing together.”

Sheriff’s officials said a memorial fund has been established in Autumn Wallace’s name at the Wells Fargo Bank, 2231 W. Lincoln Ave., Anaheim. The phone number is (714) 776-5990.