Knife in Murder Believed Recovered : Crime: It is found in Colorado River. Three New Mexico youths are suspects in slaying at Zuma Beach.

Police searching the Colorado River on Tuesday recovered a hunting knife believed to have been used by three New Mexico youths in the slaying of a Northridge woman in a Zuma Beach restroom last month, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department reported.

The knife, found in the river between Bullhead City, Ariz., and Laughlin, Nev., was discovered after the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reduced the flow of water from Davis Dam about three-quarters of a mile upstream, said Lt. Bob Schubert of the Bullhead City Police Department.

Schubert oversaw the search at the request of Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies investigating the death of Jacqueline Kirkham, 43, who was stabbed to death in a beach restroom May 28. Three New Mexico youths--Michael Loretto and Jason Alexander, both 17, and Guillermo Bustos, 16--are being held in Santa Fe, N.M., in connection with the slaying.

Murder charges have been filed in Los Angeles against Bustos and Loretto, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy George Ducoulombier. Alexander is under investigation.

Nine police officers from three agencies--the Mohave County, Ariz., Sheriff’s Department, Bullhead City police and Las Vegas police--waded into the river and found the hunting knife, which has a blade about five inches long, in a leather sheath at 7:24 a.m., Schubert said.

The knife, which was turned over to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, was found near a public boat launch near the Riverside Casino & Hotel in Laughlin, he said.

The reduction in water flow from the dam lowered the depth there from about four feet to about six inches, he said.

Schubert said Los Angeles County authorities told searchers where to look. “It was real easy to find. . . . It was right where they said it was.”

Sheriff’s Department homicide detectives traveled to Needles on Tuesday to pick up Kirkham’s purse, which was found beside a road near there June 4, Ducoulombier said.

Detectives also expect to recover other property of Kirkham’s that was pawned in Laughlin, Ducoulombier said.