Man’s Confession Leads to Woman’s Body

A 37-year-old woman was found dead in her Westlake Village condominium Thursday afternoon after a man confessed that he had killed his girlfriend and told authorities where the body was, police said.

Timothy Velasco, 22, of Los Angeles was being held Thursday night at the Ventura County Jail on suspicion of murder.

Officials said no information was available on the circumstances of the woman’s death.

However, the woman’s body showed no obvious wounds and nothing at the death scene was in disarray, said Deputy Coroner Dale Zentzis. An autopsy was scheduled for today to determine the cause of death.

Velasco contacted a friend at a Van Nuys school about 3 p.m. and told her he had killed his girlfriend, said Lt. Bill Montijo of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

The friend called the Los Angeles Police Department and officers took Velasco into custody at the department’s West Valley Station, Montijo said.

Velasco gave officers the location of the body and Ventura County sheriff’s deputies went to the address, which lies within their jurisdiction, Montijo said. Velasco was later taken to Ventura County, Montijo said.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Bruce Hansen said that when deputies arrived at the two-bedroom condominium in the 1100 block of Bright Glen Circle, they found the body. No one else was in the house, he said. Deputies refused to release her name.

Neighbors in the well-tended condominium complex said the resident of the condominium was Ellen Cleary, who had lived alone in the house with her pet parrot for about a year and a half. Neighbor Ann Marie Kershaw, 25, said the parrot would often ride on Cleary’s shoulder when Cleary came over to visit.

Kershaw said Cleary kept mostly to herself but was very nice.

“Even if something was wrong, she’d keep smiling and ask you how your day was,” Kershaw said. “It’s kind of a shocker that something like that happened to her.”

Cleary worked at a business called Mail Boxes Etc. U.S.A. and drove a red Jeep with a black top, Kershaw said.

The neighbor, who said she had last seen Cleary about 12:45 p.m. as she drove into her garage, said a tall man with blond hair often visited the condominium.

On Thursday evening, as sheriff’s deputies conducted their investigation, three of Cleary’s neighbors stood outside her condominium, some of them crying.

About 7:30 p.m., before deputies had a chance to notify relatives, a woman whom neighbors identified as Cleary’s mother arrived at the condominium. Seemingly unaware of the death, the woman was taken into another residence.