ANAHEIM : Woman Is Stabbed to Death in Park

A Placentia woman was stabbed to death in the women’s restroom of a local park Wednesday night, police said.

Anita DeLeon, who was 23 or 24, was pronounced dead at Anaheim Memorial Hospital with two stab wounds to the chest, Anaheim Police Sgt. Chet Barry said.

DeLeon’s friends said she was at La Palma Park, at the intersection of Harbor Boulevard and La Palma Avenue, for most of the morning and left in the early afternoon.

By 9 p.m., when the park was almost deserted, she apparently had returned, friends said. Two witnesses later told police that they heard screaming coming from inside the women’s restroom.

They also reported seeing a woman running toward Anaheim Boulevard.

On Thursday many of those who frequent the park described DeLeon as having a long history of drug addiction and prostitution.

“She used drugs like heroin and cocaine all the time,” said friend Dolores Garcia, 29. “But, like, she was good people.”

Barry said he could not confirm that DeLeon was a drug addict or prostitute, as described by those interviewed at the park.

“We’ve heard those rumors,” Barry said. “But we have nothing for sure.”

Barry said homicide detectives have no solid leads in the case and are not sure of the motive. It did not appear that there had been a struggle before DeLeon was slain, he said.

He added, however, that a red bicycle was found in the restroom next to DeLeon’s body. Police were trying to locate the owner of the bicycle.