Deputies Find Slain Woman’s Head, Hands

Detectives probing the death of a woman whose decapitated body was dumped in south Orange County earlier this month found the victim’s severed head and hands in the bedroom of her two sons, a law enforcement source said Sunday.

Authorities made the grisly discovery late Friday at the gated apartment complex in Riverside where Jane Marie Bautista and her sons moved six months ago.

The same day, Orange County sheriff’s deputies arrested Bautista’s sons, Jason Victor Bautista, a 20-year-old hotel clerk, and his teenage brother, whom authorities declined to name. The older son remained in Orange County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail Sunday evening. Authorities would not disclose the whereabouts of the younger brother, who friends and neighbors say is named Matthew.

Sheriff’s officials declined to reveal details about their investigation into the death of Bautista, whose mutilated corpse was found Jan. 15 in a remote area off Ortega Highway, near San Juan Capistrano.

But a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation said detectives believe the victim’s sons murdered their 41-year-old mother on the evening of Jan. 14 and cut off her head and hands in an effort to conceal her identity.

The body, clad in underpants, was about 150 feet down a cliff below a highway turnout 14 miles east of Interstate 5. Sightseers thought it was a mannequin when they spotted it about 8 a.m. But with a closer look, the couple realized it was a human body and telephoned authorities.

Without tattoos or other identifying features to work with, sheriff’s officials pleaded for the public’s help in identifying the woman, described originally as being in her late 20s to early 30s with red or strawberry blond hair, between 5 feet 8 and 5 feet 10 and weighing from 165 to 175 pounds.

They were deluged with tips. One tipster suggested looking closely at Bautista’s sons, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Bautista’s grandmother, Charlie May Funderburk, said she was shocked to learn that the two boys had been arrested in connection with Bautista’s death and said she believes they are innocent.

“They were good kids,” said Funderburk, 89, who lives in Winthrop Harbor, Ill. “I really don’t think Jason could have done it. He is a big boy, but not like that. He is really crazy about his mother.”

Bautista moved to California from Illinois several years ago with a man she later left when he stopped working, Funderburk said. Bautista suffered from severe asthma and was recently diagnosed with diabetes.

Funderburk last saw her granddaughter three years ago, when Bautista took her sons to Illinois for a visit. Both Jason and 14-year-old Matthew were devoted to their mother, who raised them strictly but lovingly, Funderburk said.

“She wouldn’t beat them,” Funderburk said. “She would make them sit outside on the step if they didn’t do as they were told. She did a good job with those boys.”

Bautista’s neighbors in Riverside said she and her boys had only recently moved into the Mission Grove Gardens apartment complex, renting a two-bedroom unit for about $1,000 a month. Neighbors didn’t know what Bautista did for a living, but her oldest son worked the front desk of a Holiday Inn near Ontario International Airport. The younger boy attended high school.

Despite a prohibition on pets at the well-manicured complex, the Bautistas owned a German shepherd and could often be seen hiding their dog in their car before rushing it inside, neighbors said.

The mother also was heard late at night screaming at her younger boy to do his chores. But neighbors noticed their home had recently become quieter. “It was weird that the screaming just stopped,” said Derek Fernandez, 26.

Fernandez and other neighbors said they saw both boys make a few visits to the dumpster carrying white kitchen trash bags Jan. 17.

“We don’t know why they kept going to the trash cans, but we thought it was weird,” Fernandez said.

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Times staff writer Janet Wilson contributed to this report.