Man Accused Of Killing Homeless Woman Found In His Apartment
SANTA ANA (CBS) — A 40-year-old man is behind bars on suspicion of killing a homeless woman whose body was found in his Santa Ana apartment, police said.
Preet Grewal was booked on suspicion of murder and being held in a Santa Ana jail, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.
Grewal is accused of killing 45-year-old Sherry Ann Feeney, Bertagna said.
Grewal initially denied knowing Feeney, whose body was found in his apartment at 3301 S. Bear St. about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Bertagna said.
"They have some kind of relationship," Bertagna said. "I don't know if it's intimate, but the detectives did find in fact he did know her."
Investigators were not saying how Feeney was killed, Bertagna said. An autopsy today was inconclusive on the cause of death and investigators ordered toxicological tests, said Jim Amormino of the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
Grewal was released recently from federal custody for a probation violation.
U.S. District Judge James Selna March 2 ordered Grewal to serve five months in prison for violating probation on a case dating back to 2005, according to court documents.
Grewal pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a gun and sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and a year in a drug rehab halfway house, according to court records.
Grewal wrote a letter to Selna Nov. 13, 2009, asking to be sent to a halfway house to serve his time because he wished to work harder at his sobriety.
Grewal also had cocaine in his system but claimed he did not use the drug.
"I have an idea how it may have gotten in my system, which does not diminish the fact that it was there, it was just so slight that within five or six hours of leaving the testing facility my employer sent me to a lab to be re-tested and the test came back negative," Grewal said in the letter.
Grewal's employer, Tony Tabaian of First Consumer Debt Management, also wrote a letter to Selna in November 2009 asking to keep Grewal out of custody because he depended on him so much.
"He is an outstanding employee who is always the first one in the office and last to leave for the day," Tabaian said in the letter. "He is a reliable and trustworthy individual. I have trusted him with critical decisions of the company that involve money."
A message left for Tabaian this afternoon was not immediately returned.
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