Police Release Sketch of Man Sought in Slaying of Teacher

Sheriff’s homicide investigators released a sketch Wednesday of a man who, along with an accomplice, is wanted in the killing Saturday of an elementary school teacher in her Compton home.

But Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Ray Peavy said deputies have revised their view that Kathryn Dawson, 68, was killed during a robbery.

“It’s difficult to find anything missing, so we’re up against the wall on this,” in determining a motive, Peavy said.

Though the house was ransacked, “There were some valuables there” and Dawson’s new car was left in the driveway.

Dawson was shot in the head from some distance, Peavy said. It is conceivable, he said, that the shooting was an accident that occurred after the two men had entered the home.

Many of Dawson’s family stood behind Peavy and other sheriff’s officers at the home as they released the drawing of one of the two assailants. Police described the man as 6 feet 1 or taller and 16 to 20 years old. He has a medium to heavy build, medium to light complexion and a light mustache or facial hair.

One of Dawson’s seven children, George Hinshaw, spoke for the family, saying she was a well-liked teacher for 40 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District, also respected in the neighborhood, and “maybe just some young boys out of control” had killed her.

“This was once a real good, serious community, regardless of what they say,” he said of the neighborhood where his mother was slain. But now, he said, there isn’t the respect there used to be for older women.

Anyone with information is asked to call homicide detectives at (323) 890-5500, Peavy said.

In the Sunday night killing of two men outside a Montebello restaurant, Sheriff’s Lt. Tom Martin, said some “fairly substantial leads have developed and we hope we have the right gang.”

He said the two slain men were not gang members.

They were Cesar Lozano of Los Angeles, whose age has been corrected from earlier reports to 23, and Gilbert Alfred Sanchez, 32, of La Puente.

THIS WILL BE A COMBINED CAPTION OF GRIEVING FAMILY (ON LEFT) AND SKETCH OF SUSPECT (ON RT). SLUGS: SHOOT, SHOOT2