SOUTH COUNTY : Police Seek Help in Identifying Body

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department is seeking the public’s help in identifying a woman whose body was found earlier this week wrapped in a blanket in a remote region of South County.

A coroner’s autopsy has concluded that the murder victim was strangled, sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Richard J. Olson said. The woman’s body was found about 4 1/2 miles north of Ortega Highway, near the Riverside County line.

Estimated to be between 18 and 24 years old, the victim was described as a 5-foot, 8-inch Caucasian weighing 114 pounds, thinly built, with shoulder-length brown and black hair.

She was wearing a light pink cotton pullover sweater and size 7 light-blue jeans, Olson said. She also wore size 7 1/2, white, “LA Gear” high-top athletic shoes with clear rhinestones on the sides and bows on the heels.

The woman was also wearing a gold-colored necklace with a heart-shaped pendant. There was a rose-colored metal flower at the base of the heart. Other pieces of jewelry found on the body included a gold-colored bracelet, a pair of golden earrings with a single, clear-colored stone in each and two gold-colored rings--one with 15 clear-colored stones and another with a black tear-drop and a clear-colored stone.

She had a double-pierced right earlobe and a scar on her abdomen from a Cesarean section delivery.

Olson said that anyone with information about the woman should contact sheriff’s homicide investigator Bob Russell at (714) 647-7047 Monday through Friday or (714) 647-7000 any time.