Teenage Girl Found Bludgeoned to Death in Park

A 16-year-old Costa Mesa girl was found apparently bludgeoned to death early Friday near the edge of a grassy cliff in the city’s Fairview Park, police said.

The girl’s body was found about 2:30 a.m. by a man who called authorities, police said. Officers declined to identify the girl, the caller or say why he was in the city park at that hour.

Police Sgt. Don Holford said the girl’s body was found at the end of Pacific Avenue, behind Estancia High School, which lies at the south edge of Costa Mesa Golf Course near the Santa Ana River.

Holford said that the girl was home-schooled and that investigators were trying to determine what she was doing in the area.

An autopsy was being conducted today, but Holford said the girl appeared to have died from blunt-force trauma. He said there was no evidence that a knife or gun had been used.

Police spent more than six hours Friday morning scouring the field for clues. The coroner’s office removed the body shortly after 10 a.m.

The park, which abuts the Talbert Nature Preserve, is popular among joggers, kite-fliers and late-night party-goers who are drawn to its fields and dirt trails.

Police said violent incidents at the park are rare.

The most recent reported attack occurred in February 1998, when a 35-year-old woman out jogging was dragged behind bushes and raped. Calvin Cunningham, 24, of Huntington Beach, was arrested in connection with the crime and reportedly committed suicide at the Orange County Jail in December 1999 after DNA evidence allegedly linked him to the rape.

Friday’s discovery marks the second homicide in Costa Mesa this year.

In May, a man was killed at a fast-food restaurant on 17th Street.