PLACENTIA : Reward of $25,000 Offered in Slaying

The family of a Placentia woman found dead in the trunk of her car last month is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to her killer, police said Tuesday.

Mary Ann O’Neil, 53, was fatally struck in the head and her body found in the back of her 1992 Infiniti on Nov. 17 outside a restaurant just blocks from her house, police spokeswoman Corinne Loomis said.

Investigators hope the reward will bring people forward who knew O’Neil and Ray Pereda, a 44-year-old cabinetmaker who had rented a room in O’Neil’s home for three years.

Pereda moved out of O’Neil’s house about a month before she was killed, police said, adding that several weeks after her body was found, he ran from police when they arrived at his new home in Anaheim. He is still at large.

“He hasn’t been elevated to suspect status,” Loomis said.

Money for the reward is being offered by the city, O’Neil’s two grown daughters and South Coast Photographic in Anaheim, where O’Neil had worked as a production manager for more than seven years, Loomis said.

“If there’s anything at all that anybody saw, we ask that they notify the police,” said Kelly Weaver, O’Neil’s oldest daughter. “It’s been very difficult for us to get on with our lives with this still hanging. The unanswered questions are haunting.”

Weaver and her sister, Karen D’Sidocky, have also set up a memorial fund that will be added to the reward money.

The sisters will spend today distributing fliers in Placentia with Pereda’s picture and description, Weaver said. Police will also distribute the flyers in Las Vegas; Las Cruces, N. M., and Mexico, Loomis said.

Pereda apparently frequented Las Vegas and has relatives in Las Cruces and Mexico, Loomis said.

Donations to the reward can be made to the Mary Ann O’Neil Memorial Fund, and sent to P.O. Box 394, Placentia, 92670. Police ask that anyone with information call (714) 993-8164.