Woman, Teenage Daughter Found Strangled

A woman and her 17-year-old daughter were found strangled Saturday morning in the Athens home they shared.

The bodies of Shirley Austin, 54, and Bessy Chiree were discovered at their home in the 1100 block of West 95th Street at 6:15 a.m. by the teenager’s father, said Lt. Marilyn Baker of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Detectives do not have any suspects or motives, and authorities said the house did not look like it had been ransacked by a burglar.

“There does not appear to be anything disturbed and no forced entry,” Baker said.

Austin and her daughter probably died sometime after 1:30 a.m., which was the last time anyone saw them, officials said.

Austin and the girl’s father separated years ago, but he made regular early-morning visits to the home, Baker said. When the father arrived at the house Saturday, he found the front door ajar and saw Austin’s body in the hallway, she said. Chiree’s body was in her bedroom, Baker said.

About 15 relatives and friends gathered Saturday afternoon, crying and hugging as investigators walked in and out of the house.

Robert Spiker, a family friend and crossing guard for the nearby 95th Street Elementary School, said he had visited the mother and daughter daily for the past six years.

“I don’t know who would want to do something like that,” Spiker said.

Austin, he said, was a nurturing woman who opened her home--and her kitchen--to many neighborhood youngsters.

“Everybody called her ‘Mom,’ ” he said.

He said Chiree was a former student at the elementary school and was attending Washington High School. He described her as kind and bright.

Spiker said the mother and daughter were very close. “They took care of each other,” he said. “It was just the two of them.”

Investigators are asking anyone with information to call the sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.