Woman Suffers Mysterious Head Injuries

Sheriff’s deputies are investigating whether a 45-year-old woman who was found in her home Sunday with extremely serious head injuries was the victim of an attempted homicide.

The woman, whose name officials would not release, was found by a neighbor just before 10 a.m., said Eric Nishimoto, a spokesman for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

The neighbor called 911, and sheriff’s deputies and paramedics responded to the home in the 2000 block of Blanchard Road in the Santa Rosa Valley near Camarillo. The victim was taken by helicopter to a local hospital, Nishimoto said.

Sheriff’s deputies would not say how the victim was injured. Officials interviewed more than 20 neighbors and family members to try to piece together leads. The victim is married with children, Nishimoto said.

Neighbors identified the injured woman as Linda Morrisset, the wife of accountant and former political candidate Richard Morrisset.

Hospital officials confirmed that Linda Morrisset was in surgery late Sunday and listed in critical condition at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard,

In the meantime, Nishimoto would not disclose whether sheriff’s deputies had any suspects or motives in the incident.

Sheriff’s deputies sealed off a cluster of four houses on Blanchard Road as they waited for a search warrant to enter the victim’s residence. Late Sunday, deputies entered the home and began searching the premises.

Officials would not disclose which house the victim lived in, but property records revealed that Linda and Richard Morrisset own a home on that section of Blanchard Road. Richard Morrisset made an unsuccessful bid for county auditor-controller in 1994. He also ran for Oxnard City Council in 1990.

One neighbor, who requested anonymity, said she has met the family and found them to be “very nice people.”

The neighbor said she was shaken by the half a dozen patrol cars that filled her street for most of the day.

“It’s just so shocking to have this happen,” she said.

Times Community News reporter Matt Surman contributed to this story.