Body of Man in Irvine Field Identified; Dead Woman’s Identity Still Unknown

Authorities have identified the body of a man found in an orange grove here last week but still do not know the identity of the woman whose partially decomposed body was found in the same field.

Jose Antonio Valenzuela, 30, was a day laborer from San Juan Capistrano who was last seen there March 30, Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Richard J. Olson said.

His body was found a day later in the orange grove on Sand Canyon Avenue, between Irvine Boulevard and Trabuco Road. An autopsy report showed that Valenzuela died from a blow to the head and neck, officials said.

The motive for his murder is still unknown, Olson said.

Valenzuela’s family members contacted the Sheriff’s Department Tuesday to identify the body after seeing an article in a Spanish-language newspaper, he said.

An Irvine Co. worker at the field found the man’s body five days after a woman’s body was discovered about half a mile away in the same grove.

The woman, who also died of a blow to the head, is described as an Anglo between the ages of 18 and 24, 5-foot-5 and 110 pounds. She was wearing a white short-sleeve T-shirt, blue floral-print baggy pants with a drawstring and a pair of navy-blue shorts.

Sheriff’s authorities ask anyone with information about her or either of their deaths to call investigator Leo Vandor at (714) 647-7046 or the watch commander at (714) 647-7000.