3 Questioned in Slaying at Zuma Beach

New Mexico state police investigating the discovery of a car owned by a Northridge woman who was stabbed to death at Zuma Beach last week arrested two teen-age boys and detained a third Wednesday, but said it was unclear whether the youths had any connection to the slaying.

Investigators said they were exploring a possible link between the youths and the victim’s car, which was found heavily damaged on a state highway near Tambe, N.M.

The 1990 Nissan 240SX was taken from Jacqueline Kirkham, 43, after she was fatally stabbed May 28 in a public restroom near county lifeguard headquarters at the Malibu beach.

The youths, ages 16 and 17, went in voluntarily at the urging of family members to talk to investigators Wednesday. All three are high school students in Pojoaque, a small town 20 miles north of Santa Fe and about 10 miles from where the car was found.

The three somehow may have obtained the slain woman’s car locally without being involved in the killing, police said.

“All we know is that they walked in this morning and offered information on the auto theft,” New Mexico State Police Maj. Frank Taylor said. “There is some link there, but we’re not sure what it is. We’re not sure if they’re involved or not.”

Two of the youths were arrested for investigation of unrelated charges--burglary and probation violation, he said.

The three were still being questioned late Wednesday and homicide detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were en route to New Mexico, Taylor said.

Taylor said Kirkham’s red two-door sedan sustained “considerable damage” when it rolled over early Tuesday.

Police found the car abandoned, but witnesses reported seeing three young men walking away just after the accident, “trying to hitch rides,” Taylor said.

Los Angeles County authorities initially suspected that four young men who escaped from a juvenile detention facility in Ventura County may have been responsible for the murder, but have since downplayed that theory. The escapees remain at large.