Charred body of 81-year-old woman found in ransacked Woodland Hills home
An 81-year-old woman was set on fire and died in her Woodland Hills home Tuesday night, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
For the record:
12:08 p.m. Aug. 3, 2022An earlier version of this article reported that the home was in the 208000 block of Martha Street. It is in the 20800 block.
A family member went to check on Ok Ja Kim at her home in the 20800 block of Martha Street on Tuesday and found Kim on the floor in her bedroom. The family member saw evidence of a fire and called 911, Officer Annie Hernandez said.
Officers from the Topanga Division arrived at the home at 7:40 p.m. and found an unconscious Kim partly underneath her bed. Her body was semi-charred and the home had been ransacked, police said. There were signs of forced entry into the home, but police did not have a description of a suspect.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department acknowledged the store owner’s role in “preventing a violent crime” while being confronted by armed suspects.
The death is being investigated as a homicide. Detectives are canvassing the neighborhood for any additional information.
LAPD Det. Sharon Kim told KTTV-TV that the area is a “generally quiet neighborhood.”
“[It’s] upper-middle class, so a crime like this, that’s violent, is pretty unusual for this neighborhood,” Kim said.
Anyone with information about this case was urged to call LAPD detectives at (818) 374-9550 or Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.
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