Body Believed to Be Marine’s Alleged Victim

A sheriff’s deputy Thursday discovered the body of a woman investigators believe was shot by her older brother, a Camp Pendleton Marine, hours after prosecutors formally charged the brother with murder.

Dumped in a remote, inhospitable patch of desert near Hesperia, in the high desert of San Bernardino County, the body had not been moved or positively identified by Thursday evening, officials said. But Deputy Dist. Atty. David Mazurik said investigators are fairly certain the body is that of Rebecca Rene Andrews, 23, who has been missing since Aug. 7.

Yancy Andrews, 27, Rebecca Andrews’ older brother and a Marine corporal, was formally charged Thursday with murder and the personal and intentional discharge of a firearm, causing a death, Mazurik said. Still unknown was his alleged motive for killing his sister.

“What exactly happened remains unclear,” Mazurik said. “This has come as a shock to the family.”

Described as a loner, so withdrawn he slept in a mobile home instead of a spare bedroom when visiting his mother’s house, Andrews was arraigned in Victorville. He was being taken back to a detention center in Rancho Cucamonga, where he is being held without bail.

Investigators believe Yancy Andrews shot and killed his sister Aug. 7 inside their family’s one-story, ranch-style home in Hesperia, south of Victorville and east of Wrightwood. They say he staged a burglary to cover up the crime--he told neighbors that some of his guns were missing after the purported break-in--and dumped her body in the desert.

Detectives have begun an exhaustive search of the home, and could be seen loading stuffed trash bags and other evidence into sheriff’s vehicles.

“It’s painstaking work,” Det. Gina Perez said outside the home, where investigators worked in searing temperatures. “We want to make sure we’re thorough.”

The well-kept house was quiet--neighbors were taking care of the family dogs. A sign supporting a City Council candidate leaned against the wall of the garage. A champagne-colored Chrysler Salon that belongs to the siblings’ mother, Phyllis Andrews, was in the frontyard with a “for sale” sign on it.

Neighbors say they had no reason to suspect that anything was amiss behind the hedges and the Joshua trees in front of the Andrews home on Mauna Loa Street.

Despite tremendous growth in recent years and the addition of dozens of shops and attractions, Hesperia remains, in large part, guns-and-trucks territory. In these parts, people who are withdrawn and asocial sometimes are considered perfect neighbors.

About 60,000 people live in Hesperia--many of them because of the privacy afforded by the desert, and the fact that $100,000 can buy a big enough lot that its owner doesn’t have to meet the neighbor if he doesn’t want to. The lots often are barren and unforgiving, full of tumbleweeds, shotgun shells and rattlesnakes--but with plenty of elbow room.

“It’s like this: I’ll be your best friend. So don’t tread on me and I won’t tread on you,” said David Hill, who has lived next to the Andrews’ home since they moved in 20 years ago. “That’s why we live here.”

To that extent, Yancy Andrews fit right in during his frequent visits from Camp Pendleton, where he had been stationed since last summer.

“I wouldn’t say he was antisocial, but he was withdrawn,” Hill said. “He was the person you like to live next to.”

Not always, said Elisa Waltz, who watched the three Andrews siblings--Yancy, Rebecca and middle son James--grow up.

“He was not a happy child like the other kids,” she said. “He had no friends. I never saw anybody talk to him.”

On occasion, Yancy Andrews’ private streak would show in unpleasant exchanges, neighbors said. They said Andrews would clear small rocks from his backyard by throwing the rocks over a chain-link fence into their yards. Neighbors said he shot their car’s roof with a BB gun.

Waltz said she was a bit frightened of Yancy Andrews, who rarely spoke to her but often glared at her.

On the afternoon of Aug. 7, Phyllis Andrews came home from work at the Victorville community college to find that the house she shared with her daughter had been ransacked, officials said.

“That place was trashed,” said Hesperia resident Brenda Williams, who was visiting friends in the neighborhood and assisted Phyllis Andrews in the hours after the discovery. “The only thing that wasn’t overturned was a love seat.”

Three days later, when she had not seen her daughter or been able to get through on her cell phone, Phyllis Andrews reported Rebecca Andrews missing.

After authorities discovered Andrews’ car abandoned about a mile from the home they began interviewing friends and family members.

Yancy Andrews was arrested Tuesday night, immediately after his interview.