Moorpark Man Is Charged With Murder of Wife

A Moorpark man was charged Wednesday with the murder of his wife, whose body was found lying face down in the mud along a rural road in Somis three days ago.

Arraignment for James Michael Linkenauger, 38, was postponed until next week at the request of the public defender’s office, which was appointed Wednesday to represent him.

Linkenauger, who is on probation for a drunken driving conviction, remains in Ventura County Jail with bail set at $250,000.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard E. Holmes said Wednesday that “a great deal of circumstantial evidence and other evidence has been gathered” against Linkenauger in the strangulation of his wife, JoAnn, 39.

“There’s a massive investigation going on at this time,” Holmes said, adding that he believes that there is a solid foundation for the charges.

JoAnn Linkenauger’s body was found Monday in a barranca just off California 118 and Somis Road, Holmes said. A county deputy coroner said the cause of death was strangulation, and the head of the Sheriff’s Department’s major crime unit said she appeared to have been beaten.

Holmes said the homicide apparently occurred Sunday evening. James Linkenauger was arrested on Tuesday after questioning by sheriff’s deputies.

The death is the first suspected murder this year in Ventura County. An earlier homicide, which is not being treated as a murder, occurred Jan. 7 when an off-duty sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a suspected robber outside an Oxnard fast-food restaurant.

Court records show that JoAnn Linkenauger sought a Superior Court restraining order against her husband in 1990, contending that he beat her on more than one occasion and that she feared that he would kill her.

The couple were married in April, 1990, according to JoAnn Linkenauger’s sworn statement in support of her request for protection. The beatings began less than a month later, she said.

“He is in jail now, may be released tomorrow, and when he gets out I’m afraid he will try to kill me,” she said in her statement.

She dropped her request three days later, court records indicate. James Linkenauger never formally responded to his wife’s charges, and apparently the couple continued living together.

Holmes said investigators are examining court records related to the Linkenaugers’ relationship during their marriage.

Sheriff’s officials are still looking for anyone who might have seen James Linkenauger or given him a ride on Sunday evening, on a six-mile stretch of Somis Road between California 118 and downtown Moorpark.

Holmes said witnesses are needed to “corroborate the timing” of events described in statements already given to sheriff’s investigators.