Woman Is Found Stabbed to Death

The body of a woman who apparently had been dead in her bedroom for four days was discovered by a roommate Wednesday afternoon after a foul odor began to spread through the two-story house.

The woman, who police said had been stabbed once in the chest, had rented a room in the house in the 3300 block of West Sisson Street for two months and lived with four roommates, police said.

“The other tenants in the house believed that the victim was not home and were not concerned,” Santa Ana Police Sgt. Don Robertson said.

The woman, whose name was not released pending notification of relatives, was in her mid-50s. She was last seen by her roommates about 10 p.m. Saturday when she brought an unidentified man home.

The owner of the house, Onofre Fernandez, said the roommates told him that they had heard the victim and the man arguing loudly before the man left the house. They said the pair had been drinking.

Fernandez said he had planned to speak to the woman about the altercation this week but when he didn’t see her, he assumed that she was out of town visiting one of her three sons.

“We keep track of each other, but on the weekends we don’t see her much,” he said. “So, when we didn’t see her, we didn’t check her room.”