Burned Woman’s Body Was That of Ex-Marine

The body of a woman found with the body of a newborn in a burning car at Los Angeles International Airport last week was identified Tuesday as a Huntington Beach resident and former Marine stationed at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, according to authorities.

Dental records were used to identify the body of Stacey Janelle Horst, 29, which was discovered April 15 in a still-blazing car at an LAX parking structure, according to Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County coroner’s investigators. Also in the car, still attached to Horst by an umbilical cord, was a near full-term, female newborn, police said.

It was unclear if the baby was born before the fire or during it, police said.

Horst was discovered about 7:45 p.m. in a 1993 Suzuki Samurai later determined to be registered in her name, detectives said. The fire was so intense, police said, that it melted the car’s identification number and charred Horst’s body beyond recognition.

Investigators have no motive or suspects in the case, LAPD Det. Peter Waack said.

Horst, who arrived in Southern California in 1988, lived most recently in Huntington Beach and was believed to be unemployed at the time of her death, officials said. In 1990, she lived for nine months in a modest Hawthorne apartment complex, where none of the neighbors interviewed Tuesday remembered her.

At El Toro, Horst served most recently as a lance corporal working in the supply section of Aviation Logistics Squadron 11, according to 1st Lt. Douglas Powell, a station spokesman. Horst ordered and distributed parts for jet aircraft, Powell said.

She joined the Marines in 1990, went through boot camp at Parris Island in South Carolina and, after serving at other bases, was assigned to El Toro in March 1995, Powell said.

Powell said Horst was listed in military records as single. She was granted a general discharge from the Marines in November 1995, but Powell said the exact reason for that resignation was not available Tuesday.

“The people in her squadron, the ones that knew her and are still here, described her as a good person, someone who really liked her job,” said Powell, who added that Horst’s former colleagues were declining interviews. “They want to remember her that way.”

Horst grew up in Bismarck, N.D., and shared an apartment there with her mother, a state employee named Beverly Horst, until 1988, according to the Bismarck Tribune. The victim’s father, Jack Horst, is divorced from Beverly Horst, and also lives in Bismarck. He declined comment Tuesday in a phone interview.

Coroner’s investigators are still performing tests to determine what killed Horst and the baby.