87-Year-Old Woman Slain in Apartment : Port Hueneme: Death of deaf tenant sparks fear among fellow residents of her building.

An 87-year-old deaf Port Hueneme woman found slain in her apartment Sunday died after being stabbed numerous times in her upper body, authorities said Monday.

Investigators have no one in custody and no motive for the killing which was the fifth homicide in the small city of Port Hueneme since November and the second this month, Sgt. Fernando Estrella said.

“At this point, it’s wide open,” he said of the investigation. “We’re not necessarily focusing on one thing or another.”

The slaying has shattered the sense of calm among the predominantly elderly and disabled residents at the Mar Vista Apartments.

“I couldn’t even sleep last night, I was so scared,” said Margie Matheson, 71, who lives in the city-owned building. To ease residents’ fears, the Port Hueneme housing authority agreed to post a night watchman at the site for an indefinite period, said Tina Pummer, housing director.

Police were called to the apartment building at 157 E. Scott St., shortly after 11 a.m. Sunday. They found the body of Beatrice Bellis inside the one-bedroom apartment where she lived alone.

Bellis’ brother, Roy Dimmick of Oxnard, discovered the body when he arrived to visit his sister, police and neighbors said.

Cora Pina, 65, Bellis’ closest friend in the building, said Dimmick came to her door around 11 a.m. and said he’d found his sister covered with a blanket in her bed. When he pulled the bedding down, he saw blood on Bellis’ face, according to Pina.

“He said, ‘My sister is dead.’ ” Pina said. “I think he knew she’d been killed but he couldn’t face it, I think he was pushing it away.”

Estrella said the coroner’s office has ordered tests to determine whether Bellis was raped. The results will not be available for several weeks.

A knife which may have been the murder weapon was found inside her apartment, where Bellis had lived since 1989, Sgt. Dennis Fitzgerald said.

He called the crime particularly brutal because of the victim’s age, physical condition and the nature of the assault.

“This victim was not a threat to anybody,” Fitzgerald said, adding that whoever killed Bellis probably knew she was deaf because it was written on a nameplate on her door. Friends said Bellis was also unable to speak.

Bellis was last seen alive in the building around 6 p.m. Saturday night when she went to the first floor to check her mail, several residents said. Police would not comment on an approximate time of death.

Detectives spent about 14 hours Sunday collecting evidence from the crime scene and interviewing residents of the building, Estrella said.

Although she could not speak, Bellis was remembered for her smile and cheery disposition. Pina said she communicated with Bellis by writing notes.

Pina said Bellis lost her hearing and speech when she contracted scarlet fever as an infant, but did not think of herself as handicapped.

“I don’t think it was a hardship to her,” she said. “She always got around it one way or another.”

Because there was no sign of a break-in, police are looking at the possibility that Bellis left her door unlocked or let her killer in. On Monday, police had sealed the apartment with tape.

Pina said Bellis--who relied on a walker to help her get around--had a habit of leaving her door unlocked during the day because she could not hear her neighbors knocking.

And until recently, Bellis had a small dog that would jump up and down to alert her when someone was knocking on the door. But the dog was killed in an accident several months ago and Bellis decided she would not be able to continue to care for another dog, Pina said.

The homicide has shaken the residents of the Mar Vista Apartments, a five-story, 60-unit building that offers subsidized housing for the elderly and disabled.

Like many other neighbors, Margie Matheson said she has begun barricading herself in at night, placing a large stepladder against her door.

Lou McPheron, 64, said she went so far as to stack pots and pans on a stool against her door. And Evelyn Adams, 78, said she no longer feels safe walking around the building on nights when she has insomnia.

Although the building’s doors are normally locked and guests must be let in through use of an intercom system, many residents say the doors stay open so long that anyone could slip in. The building has no on-site manager.

The Mar Vista apartments have never had any serious crime problems, Estrella said, although residents call police at times when they lock themselves out of their apartments. Police and firefighters carry master keys to the building.

The slaying was the 18th homicide in Ventura County this year, authorities said.

Port Hueneme Police Chief John Hopkins said it was unusual, but not unprecedented for the small city to have so many homicides in such a short time period. Before the string of homicides beginning in November, the city went three years with only one killing.

“We’ve had as many as six in a year,” he said. “I think it’s coincidental. I think it’s just our turn to get a lot.”