Shelter, County Sued in Resident’s Slaying

The family of a San Clemente woman stabbed to death at her shelter home apartment last November has filed a lawsuit against the shelter and Orange County alleging wrongful death and negligence.

The guardian for the children of the victim, 38-year-old Rena Glisson, asserted in the suit, filed this week in Orange County Superior Court, that Orange County was negligent in “hiring, managing, maintaining, inspecting and controlling” Henderson House, a San Clemente halfway house.

Oliver Wayne Glisson, the plaintiff and guardian for the two children, both minors, also said the county “was negligent in its failure to provide proper warning and properly investigate residents of the facility,” as well as being “negligent in that it had prior knowledge of the murderess’ violent tendencies and failed to warn of her violent past tendencies.”

The incident occurred Nov. 6, when witnesses at Henderson House said they heard two women arguing. A short while later, one witness found Glisson lying against a stairway near the courtyard of the complex. Days later, Diona Minicucci, 27, of San Clemente was arrested in connection with Glisson’s death.

Henderson House, the first shelter of its type in San Clemente, has been lauded for helping homeless adults, especially those recovering from substance abuse or mental illness, make the transition from shelter life to independent living. It provides housing for up to a year to those who have completed a rehabilitation program at Friendship Shelter in Laguna Beach.

Friendship Shelter also is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.