Man Sought After Body Is Found

Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators searched Tuesday for a man they described as a loner after the body of his girlfriend was found in their Hawthorne apartment.

Authorities said the search for Markus Everett, 34, and his son Benjamin, 3, was out of concern for their safety and that no suspect has been named in the death of Stephanie Spears, 22.

Police would not reveal how Spears died, but the coroner has ruled her death a homicide.

Officers who were called to check on Spears found her body in the apartment on Florwood Avenue about 1 p.m. Monday. Investigators soon turned their attention to finding Everett, who has proven difficult to track, Deputy Scott Butler said.

Investigators have not been able to trace Everett through family ties because he grew up in a foster home, Butler said. He does not own a vehicle or a cellphone or have a credit card, and does not seem to have a job, Butler said.

Everett was arrested in October 2003 on a weapons violation and gave his name as Manuel Benitez, a sheriff’s spokesman said.

Investigators have focused their search in Santa Monica, where Everett met Spears, the mother of Benjamin, and where a former girlfriend of his lives.