Link Sought in Freeway Killings of Two Women

The murder of a Claremont woman who was dragged from a car, shot and dumped beside the Pomona Freeway may be linked to a similar killing four days earlier, authorities said Wednesday.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Larry Lincoln cited similarities in the slaying of Shirley Denogean, 56, who was shot execution-style Tuesday afternoon and dumped on the Pomona Freeway in South El Monte, and the murder of Elizabeth Nesbet, 49, whose body was found Saturday on the San Gabriel River Freeway in Irwindale.

“Because of similarities in both cases, they are looking into the possibility that they might be related,” said Lincoln, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Denogean, a resident of an upscale Claremont community called The Club, was last seen leaving for lunch Tuesday from Lynx Golf Inc., a golf club manufacturing company in the City of Industry where she worked as an assistant to the president.

Her body was found at mid-afternoon in thick brush alongside the 60 Freeway west of the Rosemead Boulevard exit. Investigators said her hands had been bound and she had been shot several times in the upper torso.

Gunshots were heard at 3:30 p.m. by a married couple bicycling through the Whittier Narrows Recreation area. Moments later, they came upon Denogean’s body near a fence separating the bike path from the freeway, authorities said.

The couple told investigators they saw two men run up the embankment of the freeway and drive away. Denogean’s 1980 silver Mercedes Benz was found abandoned in El Monte Tuesday night, two to four miles from the murder scene. The victim’s purse was in it, Lincoln said.

Nesbet was abducted from the Puente Hills Mall Saturday while waiting in a car for her husband. He told investigators that when he returned to the parking lot the couple’s car was gone and his wife was missing.

The California Highway Patrol found the 1990 Ford Bronco and Nesbet’s body less than three hours later. Investigators said she had been shot in the head and her purse and credit cards stolen.

Investigators said they had no suspects in either shooting.

Another woman was found shot to death alongside a freeway Wednesday, but authorities indicated that her killing did not fit the pattern of the other two slayings.

The unidentified woman in her early 30s was found alongside the Harbor Freeway at 59th Place in Los Angeles.

Sheriff’s Department officials said Wednesday that investigators will look into her killing for a possible connection with the other two murders.