CALIFORNIA BRIEFING

By Corina Knoll

Oct. 13, 2009 12 AM PT

Authorities have identified the burned body of a woman found in a trash bin near Interstate 5 in Santa Fe Springs.

Stephanie Almanzan, 21, of Whittier was discovered about 12:30 a.m. Oct. 6 after firefighters extinguished a blaze inside a trash bin behind a furniture store in the 13100 block of Firestone Boulevard, Whittier police said.

Almanzan’s hands and feet were tied with cord and her body was badly charred, Officer Jason Zuhlke said at the time. Her identity was confirmed through dental records.

Family members suspected it was Almanzan’s body because she had two tattoos that matched those on the victim. A public vigil is scheduled tonight at 7 p.m. near the site where her body was found, according to the Whittier Daily News.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Whittier Police Department at (562) 945-8250.

-- Corina Knoll

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Corina Knoll

Corina Knoll is a former reporter for the Metro section of the Los Angeles Times. She was on the team that investigated corruption in Bell — which led to the paper’s 2011 Pulitzer Prize for public service — and went on to cover the trials of the city’s former officials. She later contributed to the paper’s coverage of the San Bernardino terror attack that won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news. As a regional reporter, she wrote features about the San Gabriel Valley and the Westside. During her courts beat, she covered high-profile criminal cases and civil disputes, including the Jackson family vs AEG and Bryan Stow vs LA Dodgers. She and two colleagues investigated sheriff’s deputies whose histories of misconduct landed them on the department’s top-secret Brady list. She left The Times in January 2019. Raised in the Midwest, she is a graduate of Macalester College.

CALIFORNIA BRIEFING

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