Two Sought in Palmdale Slaying

Sheriff’s investigators are looking for two men in connection with the death of a 56-year-old man whose body--clothed in a dress--was found in a Palmdale lake.

The beaten body of Mel Earle Pittenger of Littlerock was discovered floating in Una Lake on July 5. Pittenger, also known as Mel Harris, was clad in a black satin knee-length, spaghetti-strap dress.

He was seen getting into a two-door, rust orange Toyota Corolla or Dodge Colt, possibly with a missing left rear window, between 2 and 2:30 a.m. on July 5.

Witnesses told authorities that the driver of that car was a heavy-set male Hispanic in his mid-30s with a dark complexion and curly dark hair. Another man in the car was described as a male Hispanic in his late 20s with a thin build.

Sheriff’s investigators said the two men are not suspects but are wanted for questioning since they are the last people Pittenger was seen with and because he was with them just six hours before his body was found.

Pittenger’s body was found only about two miles from Palmdale’s only adult bookstore, where, for unknown reasons, he got in the car with the two men.

Pittenger, who detectives described as “a man during the day and a man dressed as a woman during the evening,” was known to spend a lot of time at Sunshine Gifts, the only adult bookstore in Palmdale, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detectives Cheryl Lyons or Frank Durazo at (213) 974-4341.