Lack of Solid Clues in Torrez Killing Frustrates Police

Three months after discovering the body of 20-year-old Cathy Torrez stuffed in the trunk of her car in a hospital parking lot, police say they are no closer to learning the identity of her attacker.

While reluctant to release the scanty details of the assault, police will say the Cal State Fullerton student was attacked in her car but was not sexually assaulted.

Police Chief Manuel E. Ortega said that after following every lead and tracking even the most unlikely rumor, police don’t know why Torrez was killed, or by whom.

Torrez’s body was discovered Feb. 19 in the trunk of her car, which was parked at Placentia Linda Community Hospital. She had last been seen seven days earlier, when she left work at Sav-On at 8 p.m., about a mile away.

Police say she died of multiple stab wounds sometime between Feb. 12, when her family reported her missing, and Feb. 14, when hospital employees first noticed the car in the parking lot but didn’t realize it belonged to a missing woman. Police would not identify what kind of weapon was used.

Police spokeswoman Corrine Loomis said a search of the car yielded no usable fingerprints, but police did find traces of hair and fiber that could be used to link or eliminate suspects.

The medical examiner’s report turned up no physical signs of sexual assault, Loomis said, but there were signs of a struggle inside Torrez’s car.

“Things were in disarray and damaged inside the car, and there was damage to the interior,” Loomis said.

While police officials in the past speculated that Torrez probably knew her attacker, they do not rule out a random attack or robbery as a motive.

Police have received about 100 phone calls and letters from people who say they have information about the killing. All of these tips lead nowhere, a fact that frustrates Ortega and the rest of the department.

Ortega also said he was disappointed that a reward of more than $32,000 hasn’t prompted someone with solid information to step forward.

“I can’t believe the perpetrator could keep it a secret this long,” Ortega said. “Or that those who know something could.”

With no witnesses or new evidence, police are left with reviewing what little information they have. Lt. Bob Jones, who took over as head of the investigation division about one month ago, said he plans to “walk through” all the evidence with investigators to see what might have been overlooked.

“Maybe, because I wasn’t involved from the beginning, I can look at the evidence with a different perspective,” Jones said.

On Thursday, three months since the day Torrez’s body was discovered, her mother, Mary Bennett of Placentia, said she “can’t put closure to her death.”

“I’ve accepted that she’s not going to come through the door and ask, ‘What’s for dinner?’ or, ‘Did anybody call?’ but I can’t accept that someone left her out there like that.”