4 Slayings Send Police Scurrying in Anaheim

ANAHEIM â€”  A rash of slayings in this city Thursday left four people dead and police scrambling from crime scene to crime scene, ending in upscale Anaheim Hills where they found one body in a swimming pool and another in a driveway next door.

“This has been the grimmest day of my career, and I’ve been here for 29 years,� said Lt. Steve Brace.

The string of killings began just after midnight Wednesday when a diminutive, 60-year-old woman facing hip surgery was arrested on suspicion of killing her roommate, who neighbors said had tormented her. Hours later in another part of the city, a young man was found dying of a shotgun wound outside an apartment building. As police were investigating that scene, they were called to a possible murder-suicide in Anaheim Hills.

There, shortly after 3 p.m., police discovered the bloody body of a woman beside shattered glass 10 feet from the front door of a home in the 7000 block of East Columbus Drive. Officers then found a man with a gunshot wound floating in the pool next door, Capt. Marc Hedgepeth said. They also recovered a handgun from the pool. Police said it appeared that a struggle, possibly between the two, may have originated at the home with the pool.

“The preliminary investigation seems to indicate it’s a murder-suicide,� said Bret Colson, a spokesman for the city. Both victims died of gunshot wounds, he said.

Police had not released the name of either victim. Neighbors said the woman was divorced and has two college-age sons.

Neighbor Ryan Schleiger, 17, said he grew up with the youngest son, now attending college in Washington, and that “they were a really great family. This whole thing is pretty crazy.�

Several residents in the neighborhood called Sunset Ridge, where homes are valued at as much as $400,000, said they rarely saw the family.

“They were kind of reclusive,� said Tony Podue, 40, who was at home a few doors away when the slayings occurred. “They were one of the few homes that didn’t answer the door for trick-or-treating.�

Initially, police suspected that a third person was involved in the slayings and dispatched two SWAT teams to search both homes. That search found no one.

By sundown, neighbors returning from work were astonished to find a host of police cars and news media crowded around police lines near the two houses.

“This has always been a really nice neighborhood. There’s always been a strong sense of safety and security here,� said Terri Niino, 45, who has lived here for 18 years. “This is so scary that this could happen here.�

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Earlier Thursday, police officers found the body of a 56-year-old machinist sprawled in his living room and arrested his female roommate on suspicion of murder.

Investigators suspect that a domestic dispute exploded into violence and that the 60-year-old woman, Kathleen Straits, fatally shot Michael D. Williams.

Police were called about 12:50 a.m. to The Gallery Apartments in the 1400 block of West North Street about an assault. Straits answered the door for the officers, who found Williams lying on the floor with at least one gunshot wound, Sgt. Steve Rodig said. Investigators said they found a handgun believed to have been used in the shooting.

“The suspect hasn’t made any statements,� Rodig said. “Obviously, we’re looking into the possibility that there was some kind of a domestic dispute.�

Williams and Straits met at a doctor’s office earlier this year and apparently decided to share an apartment because neither could afford a place alone, said Nadine Meiers, a close friend who lives in the same apartment complex.

“They didn’t even know each other before that,� Meiers said. “I don’t think she knew what she was getting into.�

Straits, a frail woman with health problems who was scheduled for hip surgery, had decided to get a roommate to save money and because she didn’t want to live alone, friends said. Williams was described by neighbors as a hard-working man with a bad temper who referred to Straits as his “best friend.�

Problems surfaced soon after they moved into their two-bedroom apartment about six months ago, neighbors said.

Neighbor Jenee Coleman, 25, said she met Straits in the laundry room while Straits was washing orange juice from a robe.

“She told me that [Williams] had poured a pitcher of orange juice on her after she made breakfast,� Coleman said. “She said he just woke up mad. She said she had never seen a person like that before.�

Coleman said she often had heard screams through the thin walls of the apartment complex late at night and into the morning. Meiers said Straits occasionally ran to her apartment in fear of Williams.

“He once threatened her with a gun,� Meiers said. “She is just a tiny thing; she weighs about 80 pounds.�

Neighbors said Straits called police several times during the fights. Terree Siebert, the apartment manager, said the complex’s security guards had responded to at least one problem at the apartment, but by the time they arrived the yelling had stopped.

Meiers and others said that since Williams’ employer shut down and he was laid off in September, tension had been building between the roommates. Straits, who usually called Meiers every day, stopped calling. And Meiers said she had not been able to reach her friend.

“I knew something wasn’t right,� said Meiers, speaking through tears. “I didn’t want to come around too often because [Williams] was there, and now, I feel like I should have.�

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In the third incident in Anaheim Thursday, a 24-year-old man from Long Beach was fatally shot about 10 a.m. in front of an apartment in the 1100 block of West Fay Lane. The man, who has not been identified, was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he died about two hours later, Rodig said.

Police had no suspect Thursday night. Detectives obtained a search warrant for the address and continued looking for witnesses but had not learned why the man was gunned down.