Officials Find Body in Torched Auto Stolen in Anaheim

Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials are seeking the public’s help to identify a young woman whose charred body was found inside the trunk of a burning Cadillac that was reported stolen in Anaheim.

A motorist spotted the late-model car with the trunk on fire about 11 p.m. Wednesday in the Rancho Dominguez area. The car was parked in an industrial area in the 19800 block of Santa Fe Avenue near the Long Beach Freeway and Del Amo Boulevard, sheriff’s spokeswoman Diane Hecht said.

The remains apparently were those of a white woman in her late teens, Hecht said. The car had been reported stolen in Anaheim three hours earlier.

“It was a well-involved car fire,” said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Michael Dyer, “and when [firefighters] popped open the trunk, they found a charred body inside. Yes, it did surprise them.”

Dyer described the fire as “an obvious arson.” He said there were accelerants discovered at the scene, but declined to elaborate.

The victim had a tattoo on the back of her left shoulder of a flower with the word “Kelly” below it, Hecht said.

Deputies checked on the car’s registration and later learned that the Cadillac had been reported stolen in Anaheim about 8 p.m Wednesday.

An autopsy is pending to determine cause of death, the spokeswoman said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at (213) 890-5500.