Port Hueneme Police Call Death a Homicide

Residents of a Port Hueneme neighborhood were stunned Tuesday by the death of a 32-year-old mother of two young children in what police called a homicide.

Norma Rodriguez was found dead in the front apartment of a duplex in the 100 block of East B Street shortly before 8 a.m., authorities said. Port Hueneme police said they found the victim lying on the floor of her residence.

Sgt. Fernando Estrella said police were called at 7:47 a.m. by Rodriguez’s estranged husband, Anthony Rodriguez, who reported finding the body.

Estrella said the case is being treated as a homicide, but he declined to disclose a suspected cause of death or other evidence leading to that conclusion. No suspects have been arrested.

Deputy Coroner Jim Wingate said an autopsy is scheduled for today.

Police investigators spent Tuesday combing Rodriguez’s apartment as curious neighbors gathered outside.

“Nobody knew her. She kept to herself. She didn’t even let her kids out of the yard,” said Deborah Rodriguez, who lived next door to the victim but was not related to her. The victim’s sons, ages 4 and 11, were taken to the police station.

“One of my daughters is the same age as of one of her boys,” Rodriguez said. “My daughter would try to talk to him and the mother would always say, ‘No.’ ”

Mike Martinez and his wife, Yolanda, who live across the street from the victim’s home, said they saw the estranged husband arrive at the apartment about 6:30 a.m. to take the children to school.

“She seemed pretty friendly,” Mike Martinez said. “She minded her own business.”

Teresa Tellez, who lives in the apartment behind Rodriguez, said she did not hear anything out of the ordinary.

“There was nothing. That’s why it was so surprising,” Tellez said. “I heard the father this morning and I assumed everything was fine. Then I heard a firetruck. I came out because that’s about the time the kids go to school.”

Tellez said Rodriguez had lived at the residence for about 1 1/2 years.

Rodriguez’s death shocked employees at the K mart in Oxnard where she worked.

“She was a fine person, a very nice person. She always had a smile,” said an employee who declined to give her name. “I never saw her have a bad day.”

Neighbor Deborah Rodriguez said that over the years, police had been called to deal with previous tenants at the victim’s residence.

“Ever since I’ve lived here, 10 years, there’s been something going on,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of crazy people in that house. I find that place jinxed. . . . But this lady never did nothing.”

The incident brings to 16 the number of homicides in Ventura County this year, Wingate said.

It also is the second homicide on East B Street in the past seven months. Last December, a 55-year-old man was shot to death while sitting in his pickup truck on the 300 block of East B.