Family, Realtors, Council Post $70,000 Reward in Woman’s 1989 Slaying

A $70,000 reward was offered Thursday for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killers of a Sepulveda real estate woman who was stabbed to death after apparently surprising burglars in her home.

Nancy Gail Bronston, 49, left work early on Dec. 7, 1989, went Christmas shopping and returned in mid-afternoon to her house in the 8500 block of Decelis Place. Los Angeles police believe there were at least two burglars in the house when she entered.

Bronston set her purse on a kitchen counter, but what happened next is not known. Her stabbed body was found bound and gagged in a rear bedroom. Two televisions and two video recorders were stolen. A gold bracelet Bronston always wore, which matched one worn by her husband, Don, was also missing.

Authorities announced that $20,000 was contributed to the reward by the Bronston family, $25,000 by the San Fernando Board of Realtors, and $25,000 by the Los Angeles City Council.

“I appeal for anyone who has information to come forward,” said Don Bronston at a news conference at the Bronston home, where he displayed the matching bracelet.

Bronston said that normally his wife would not have been home on the day she was killed, but she had finished work early at White House Properties of Northridge, the real estate firm the couple owned.

“That day she said she was caught up and asked if I would mind if she went Christmas shopping,” he said. “I said, ‘Of course, I don’t mind.’ It was Christmas shopping.”

When his wife did not show up at an evening cocktail party, Bronston asked one of his daughters to check the house. The daughter discovered her mother’s body.

Detective Michael Brandt said police believe there were at least two burglars because neighbors saw an unfamiliar car--a late-1970s model Chevrolet or Chrysler with a white top and brown body--in the Bronston driveway. The victim’s Cadillac was also stolen, indicating there were two drivers.

The Cadillac was found the day after the slaying at a Van Nuys swap shop, about two blocks away. The bracelet and other property have not been recovered.

Councilman Hal Bernson, who appeared at the news conference, urged anyone with any information remotely connected to the case to call police.

“If you have anything at all, anything that seems insignificant . . . it might be that little piece the police are looking for,” he said.