Investigators Still Looking For Clues In La Verne Double Homicide
LA VERNE (CBSLA.com) — Detectives continued working Saturday to develop a possible suspect in the double homicide of a La Verne couple in their home.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, deputies were sent around 1:25 p.m. Friday to a home located in the 300 block of Roughrider Road following a report of an unresponsive couple.
Once on scene, officials located the two victims, who were initially reported to have suffered stab wounds, although the Sheriff's Department later issued a news release saying their cause of death was undetermined. The coroner's office reported Saturday that the Isoms died as a result of blunt-force trauma.
One of the victims, later identified as Shirley Isom, 74, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her husband, Armie Isom, 89, was transported to a hospital in critical condition, and later died.
Authorities said the groundskeeper found the couple near the entrance of the house.
On Saturday afternoon, CBS2's Greg Mills reported that authorities do not have a suspect, and are downplaying neighbors' reports of a man seen in the area with a backpack on Friday.
"We don't have a suspect at this time," said Los Angeles sheriff's Lt. Dave Coleman. "The media has contacted neighbors who saw a transient-type person in the neighborhood in and around the time, but we are not considering him a suspect at all at this time."
Mills also talked to neighbors of the Isoms, who lived in a remote subdivision north of the 210 Freeway.
"It's got me a little scared here too," said longtime friend and neighbor Joe Vaniman.
Vaniman recalled Armie Isom's work to create the subdivision.
"I was here when he started this subdivision out here," Vaniman said. "He was a workaholic, when he built the subdivision out here he'd be up here at dawn and work until dark."
Family members did not want to go on camera, but told Mills they were in shock.
No arrests have been made, and the motive for the stabbing has not yet been established.
Investigators plan to return to the home on Sunday to continue searching for clues, and will have search dogs as well as work on horseback.
Anyone with information about this crime is urged to contact deputies at (323) 890-5500.
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