Local woman found dead in Culver City

Amber Willard

GLENDALE -- Roberta Happe’s answering machine at her Glendale home and

voicemail at her Los Angeles office still carried her cheery greeting

Friday night.

Less than 24 hours before, Happe’s body was found in a Culver City

parking lot.

Culver City Police had released little information about the

23-year-old’s death Friday. They did not say how she died or whether she

had been killed at the park. Neighbors and co-workers said police had

been at her home and office Friday during their investigation.

Happe, who graduated from Crescenta Valley High School in 1995 and

grew up in La Crescenta, was pronounced dead by paramedics Thursday after

passersby saw her body in the parking lot at Bill Botts Field in Culver

City Park at 8:20 p.m.

“I played Little League there 30 years ago,” said Lt. Scott Bixby of

the Culver City Police. The park has baseball and soccer fields, as well

as walking paths.

Bixby said investigators were searching for her car, a 1988 Mazda 323

station wagon. The gray car’s license plate is 2JKH428.

Happe’s co-workers at the Frank D. Lanterman Regional Center in Los

Angeles were stunned Friday when they learned of her death.

“She was a wonderful young woman who epitomized her last name,” said

Diane Anand, the center’s executive director, referring to the name’s

pronunciation -- happy.

Happe was instrumental in planning the Lanterman Leadership Forum,

which is held every five years and will be in Glendale next month, Anand

said.

Happe graduated from USC in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in business

and started at the center as a temporary worker.

“I said, ‘We have to keep her on,’ ” Anand said of Happe, whose

compassion and quick learning skills made an impression.

She was hired as a coordinator at the Family Resource Center and

frequently worked with adults with developmental disabilities, co-workers

said.

Neighbors also spoke of Happe’s compassion and friendliness.

Jose Martinez, who lives with his wife in the apartment below Happe’s,

said the woman always greeted them and sometimes talked about USC’s

basketball team.

The couple said they had not heard any strange noises from Happe’s

second-story apartment, where a pair of women’s black dress shoes sat

outside early Friday night. From her balcony is a view of the Verdugo

Mountains.

The couple last saw Happe Wednesday morning and hadn’t seen her

station wagon for a couple of days.

“It was shocking because you don’t expect to hear stuff, especially in

this area,” Jose Martinez said, adding that Happe had helped put up

Christmas lights around the small complex, a project that most of the

residents undertook.

A woman who answered the telephone Friday at Happe’s parents’ home in

La Crescenta declined to talk.

Reporter CLAUDIA PESCHIUTTA contributed to this article.