Traffic Victim Identified After 10 Months

A woman struck by a car and killed in Long Beach 10 months ago was identified this week through a state database as 57-year-old Ki Soon Lee of Garden Grove, reported missing by her family after she stepped out for an evening walk, police said.

Lee had been considered a Jane Doe in the Los Angeles County morgue since she was struck by two drivers and killed on the Long Beach Freeway shortly after 5 a.m. Nov. 11.

She disappeared on the evening of Nov. 9 after going out for a walk, prompting a fruitless search by family members and police in the following months, said Garden Grove Police Det. Dale Walker.

“Basically all she ever did was walk to and from the store,” Walker said. “We had one of our Korean specialists go out and work with the family. We ran her picture and an article in the Korean Times, and put up fliers to see if anyone had seen her.”

Lee was entered into the state Department of Justice missing persons system with just a physical description. She had never been to a dentist in the United States, so dental records, often used to identify people, were not an option, Walker said.

“Nobody really knew what clothing she had on when she left,” he said. “We had very sketchy information to go on. We did a lot of work initially until we couldn’t do anything more.”

Walker said Lee had not carried any identification. She didn’t drive, and family members said she had no friends. How she got to Long Beach remains a mystery.

The driver who struck Lee stopped and waved his arms to prevent other cars from hitting her, but another one did, Walker said. The second driver did not stop and has not been located.

The delay in identifying Lee probably resulted from the sketchy information placed in the system, and the volume of information handled, Walker said.