Remains of Woman Killed 5 Years Ago Discovered in Yard : Crime: Police use hand-drawn map to located skeleton of woman who disappeared. Husband of victim is arrested in La Jolla on suspicion of murder.

Using a hand-drawn diagram that led them directly to a makeshift grave, police have unearthed the skeleton of a woman who police believe was killed five years ago and buried in a plastic bag in the back yard of a Canoga Park house. Police have arrested her husband on suspicion of murder.

Michael Jeffrey Hardy, 46, was arrested near his La Jolla area apartment Friday and taken to Van Nuys jail, where he was held overnight without bail, said Los Angeles Police Sgt. Douglas Miller.

Hardy was transferred Saturday to an undisclosed hospital because of a heart ailment, said Sgt. John Rygh.

Detectives believe the remains found Friday in the 20600 block of Sherman Way are of Hardy’s wife, Deborah Lynn Hardy, 31, who disappeared in late 1985 or early 1986, Miller said. A spokesman for the coroner’s office said the results of an autopsy will be released this week.

A tip from an unidentified informant led officers to the remains, which were buried three feet deep in the back yard of the house the couple rented for six months in 1985 on Sherman Way, Miller said. The informant gave police the map.

The informant told detectives that the woman was struck on the head with a flashlight during a domestic dispute and eventually buried in the southwest corner of the back yard, Miller said.

Hardy did not file a missing person’s report and told friends that his wife had run away, police said.

Bob and Cheree Coyle, the current occupants of the house, said about 20 police officers, including a forensics team, spent seven hours Friday digging up their back yard and searching their home for evidence of the murder.

Bob Coyle, 28, a prop maker for TV and movie studios, said he returned home from work early Friday and spent much of the day chatting with detectives, who Coyle said revealed details about the crime not available in a press release issued Saturday.

Police declined to comment on the details given by Coyle.

Coyle said police told him that the informant came forward after he was arrested on burglary charges.

Cheree Coyle, a 27-year-old church secretary, said police had a hand-drawn map and easily unearthed the remains using a backhoe. The body had been sprinkled with lime and wrapped in heavy plastic, but had not entirely decomposed because the plastic prevented water from activating the lime, Bob Coyle said police told him.

Detectives removed all the yellow floor tiling in the Coyles’ bathroom as part of the investigation, Coyle said. Police told him they plan to test the tile for blood traces, he said.

Coyle said that when he moved into the house four years ago, there was “an awful smelling” foot locker, 6 1/2 feet long by 1 1/2 feet wide, in the garage that he washed out and used to store tools. Police also removed the foot locker Friday, he said.

Coyle said officers also asked him to help them find a tin shed that had been on the property when he moved in. Coyle said detectives told him that the shed was erected to cover the digging of the grave and then left behind when Hardy moved. Coyle had given the shed to a friend in Paso Robles, he said.

Chuck Tronson, who owns the house, was out of town Saturday and could not be reached for comment. Bob Coyle said that Tronson told him that the Hardys erected a 10-foot chain-link fence and bought three Doberman pinschers two weeks after moving in.

Hardy was arrested without incident about 7 p.m. Friday when a van he was driving was stopped in the 3800 block of Nobel Drive in San Diego.

A woman and two children who were with Hardy in the van were taken to the Police Department’s northern division headquarters, questioned and released, Robinson said. They were not considered suspects, he added. Police declined to identify the three.

Times staff writer Nancy Ray contributed to this report.