Bodies of Girl, Parents Found

A Los Angeles police officer, her husband and their teenage daughter were found dead in their Corona home Monday in an apparent homicide-suicide, police said.

Police discovered the bodies of LAPD Officer Nancy Walden, 45; her 51-year-old husband; and their daughter at their Donatello Drive residence in the Riverside County community on the Orange County border.

Authorities did not release the names of the husband and daughter. But neighbors said the girl was 16 and, despite her age, had passed the high school equivalency exam and was scheduled to begin college this week.

Corona police officers said they suspect the husband shot his family and then himself, though they stressed that the investigation is incomplete.

About 11 a.m., police responded to a call from a relative who had gone to visit the family and discovered their bodies, all in the same room on the first floor of the two-story house. A handgun was found at the scene, Sgt. Michael Abel said, and there was no sign of robbery or forced entry.

Police said Walden had not reported for work as scheduled Monday at the LAPD, where she was a patrol officer with the bus transit division. She was last seen Sunday at the California Air National Guard, in which she had enlisted. She was scheduled to go to Germany soon with the Guard, LAPD Lt. Horace Frank said.

Last fall, Corona police had gone to the house after a report that the husband was depressed, authorities said.

Neighbors said that Walden was outgoing, but that her husband was much quieter. Louie Ilievski, who lives on the street behind the family, said Walden’s husband was an engineer.

On Monday night, candles lined the street of tract houses in the south part of Corona. Neighbors said the family had lived there since the tract was built five years ago.

Marian Boerio, who also lives on Donatello Drive, said she and the other women in the tightknit community had been crying all day.

“We’re all one big family and we’re just shocked,” she said.

Boerio said Walden’s family often hosted pool parties and neighborhood get-togethers.

Neighbor Brad Tucholski, 32, said the teen “was an extremely intelligent girl, smarter than I am, kind of a loner.”

Walden, a six-year veteran of the LAPD, had worked in the Harbor and Southeast divisions before joining the bus transit division, Frank said, where she patrolled MTA bus lines and bus facilities.