New Suspicions Prompt Probe of Woman’s Death

The death of a 75-year-old Oceanside woman last week, first believed to be the result of a car accident while she was driving toward Borrego Springs, now is being investigated as a possible homicide, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said Friday.

Lt. John Tenwolde, who heads the sheriff’s homicide unit, said that, based on the injuries sustained by Grace Burrus, “we’re not satisfied it’s a traffic fatality, and we are investigating the possibility she was the victim of foul play.”

Burrus was en route to Salton City in Imperial County on June 27 but never arrived, prompting her estranged husband, John Burrus, to file a missing-persons report with the Oceanside Police Department, authorities said.

Her body was found at 10:30 the following morning by the California Highway Patrol, 75 feet below a turnout on county highway S-22 as the road winds down the Montezuma Grade toward Borrego Springs. Her car was found 290 feet below the roadway, said CHP Officer Mona DeMello-Hoss.

She said Burrus’ vehicle did not appear to be traveling fast, and that Burrus, who was not restrained by seat belts, was apparently ejected from the vehicle as it fell down the steep hillside.

There were no witnesses to the incident, she said.

“We’ve put our own investigation on hold, because we know there are other investigations going on into her death,” DeMello-Hoss said.

The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office initially said Burrus had died of “blunt-force head injuries,” but Deputy Coroner Ken Bell said Friday the investigation into her death was continuing and that the source of the blunt force was undetermined.

The

medical examiner’s office notified the Oceanside Police Department of its findings, and that department in turn notified the sheriff’s homicide unit, Tenwolde said.

“There was trauma to the body, but the nature of the injuries she sustained are suspicious in nature and not necessarily consistent with injuries you might expect from a traffic accident,” Tenwolde said. “The nature of her injuries piqued our interest, along with other items of physical evidence that I won’t define, relevant to the condition of the vehicle and items within the vehicle.”

He would not give details.

Tenwolde said Burrus’ clothes were “rumpled, and not entirely covering her body, but she had not been disrobed, per se. The way she was wearing her clothing at the time could have been the result of ejection from the vehicle, or may have been due to other reasons. We don’t know yet.”

There was no evidence she had been sexually assaulted, he said.

Her vehicle left the pavement at a “slow rate of speed” at a point along the highway popular among motorists for pulling over and viewing the panorama of the desert to the east, Tenwolde said.

Grace and John Burrus had been married 30 years, but she filed for divorce from him in 1987, according to court records. The couple were scheduled to be in Vista Superior Court on Friday for a trial on the dissolution, including the division of the couple’s real estate holdings and other assets.

John Burrus could not be reached for comment Friday, and was said by a neighbor where he lives at Salton City to be on his way to Alaska, where he owns property.