Woman Says She Cut Up Body, D.A.’s Office Reports

Karen Lee Huster told police investigators she dismembered the man’s body discovered in a Canoga Park apartment Friday, but said she did so after he died of natural causes, a district attorney’s spokeswoman said Tuesday.

“She admits she dismembered the body, but she claims it was dismembered after he had a heart attack,” spokeswoman Victoria Pipkin said.

Los Angeles Police Det. Brad Cochran, who is investigating the case, would not confirm Huster’s reported admission.

The district attorney’s office will file charges against Huster eventually, Pipkin said, but not until autopsy investigations and toxicology tests reveal the man’s identity and the cause of death.

“We intend to prosecute her,” Pipkin said. “Clearly a crime has been committed . . . but we’ve got to finish our investigation.”

A coroner’s spokesman said an autopsy Monday left in doubt whether the man was a homicide victim or died of natural causes.

“The examination findings are inconclusive,” said coroner’s spokesman Scott Carrier. “There does not appear to be any obvious cause of death.”

Carrier said there were no obvious gunshot or stab wounds in the body parts found in two freezers. A final report could take as long as six weeks, he said.

Prosecutors referred the case back to the LAPD for further investigation, officials said. Huster remained in the Twin Towers jail downtown on an Oregon warrant for the murder of her daughter, Elisabeth Anne, who disappeared four years ago at age 10.

“We decided not to file now because there wasn’t enough evidence,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Phil Halpin. “The first stumbling block is [that] the coroner has not offered an opinion on the cause of death.”

Oregon officials said they will seek Huster’s extradition. Halpin said she has the right to request an extradition hearing, which could take several weeks.

Even if the man died of natural causes, Oregon detectives said that linking Huster to a dismemberment lends credibility to their case that she is capable of murder.

“Would a normal person cut up a body like that?” said Det. Larry McKinney of the Washington County Sheriff’s Department.

Huster, 41, disappeared in April, when she was indicted in Oregon for her daughter’s murder. A detective from the Washington County sheriff’s office flew to Los Angeles Monday and has served a warrant on Huster, said Sgt. Marlene Gaskins of the Oregon agency.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the LAPD’s Cochran and the apartment manager identified the 73-year-old man who rented the apartment as James Cameron. Building manager Lilly Garcia described him as “a very nice person, very quiet” who had lived in the De Soto Avenue complex for about three years.

But authorities stressed that although Cameron is missing, the remains are still unidentified.

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Times staff writer Solomon Moore contributed to this story.