VENTURA : Police Seek Car for Evidence in Beating

In what appears to be the first lead in months in the investigation of the brutal beating of a Ventura woman last May, Ventura police detectives are appealing to the public to help find a car that may have been used by a suspect in the case.

Sgt. Bob Anderson said they hope to find evidence in the car that would link the suspect to the beating of Michelle Green, 23, of Ventura, who was discovered behind a dumpster in the 800 block of Poinsettia Place near Main Street in downtown Ventura on May 5, 1990. Anderson would not elaborate on what type of evidence detectives might find in the car.

“This is a very iffy, very hazy prospect that we developed in the last few weeks,” he said. “We want to examine this car because the suspect had access to it at the time of the Green case, but nobody has come to us and said this car was involved” in the crime.

Anderson said the car, a yellow 1978 Ford Fiesta, was sold in May or June to a woman in the North Ventura Avenue area.

“The present owner of the car has no knowledge it could be involved in a police investigation,” he said. “The seller felt the buyer lived in the Oak View or Ojai area, but has no idea who it was because the vehicle was never registered” with the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

Anderson asked that anyone with information on the location of the car contact the Ventura Police Department.