Letter Leads Police to Dismembered Body

The dismembered body of a 54-year-old woman was discovered in her Long Beach garage Monday after police received a letter from the woman’s brother describing the slaying. The brother apparently hanged himself in Kern County shortly after mailing the confession, police said.

The letter from Patrick O’Connor, 46, led police to a Naples-area residence where they made the gruesome discovery. The remains of Sheila O’Connor were found in a plastic recycling bin, two 1-gallon containers and a makeshift plywood box, all of which had been filled with concrete, police said. The box contained the woman’s torso, authorities said.

A possible squabble over a will cited in her brother’s letter may have led to the killing and apparent suicide in the Kern County community of Frazier Park, police said.

Family members had reported Sheila O’Connor missing earlier this month, Long Beach police spokeswoman Maria Mendez Lopez said. Several family members received letters Friday from O’Connor’s brother stating that he had killed his sister, with whom he lived in the 200 block of Ravenna Drive. Those letters did not indicate where her body was, Lopez said.

Long Beach homicide detectives received a letter Monday saying where the body parts could be found. In that letter, O’Connor claimed to have killed his sister in August.

“It appears he had murdered his sister in an argument over the family inheritance,” said Long Beach police service assistant Israel Ramirez, who added that the brother had been named executor of the will by his sister and their parents.

In Kern County, where the body of Patrick O’Connor was found, a sheriff’s spokeswoman refused to comment on the case other than to confirm that he had hanged himself.