Missing Persons Orange County

As authorities began digging up the basement of John Joseph Famalaro's home Sunday, his neighbors in the Prescott Country Club community described the murder suspect as a troubled loner who took pains to avoid contact with them. Famalaro, 37, was arrested Wednesday after a tip about a stolen moving truck turned up the frozen body of Denise A. Huber, 23 of Newport Beach, who disappeared without a trace in June, 1991.

A Lake Forest woman reported missing since Monday was found Thanksgiving Day after she called her family to say that she had been on a gambling trip, police said. Kristine Chieko Arabaca, 26, phoned her family early Thursday after seeing her name and photograph on news broadcasts, police said. "She was apparently gambling somewhere in Compton," said Sgt. Tom Imbodem of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. "Local police have confirmed she is safe."

When Anna Famalaro campaigned for the Santa Ana City Council in 1981, the outspoken 56-year-old left little doubt about her top priority: how to stem a growing tide of crime in that central Orange County city. But unspoken in her losing political effort was the crime that already had devastated Anna Famalaro, her neighbors say, driving a wedge into the heart of her devoutly Roman Catholic family.

Police searched Wednesday for a missing Lake Forest woman who had told her husband she was being stalked at Cal State Long Beach, where she is a student. Kristine Chieko Arabaca, 26, was last seen about 10 a.m. Monday when she dropped off her year-old son at a baby-sitter's house in Artesia on her way to a 12:30 p.m. class, police said. "This is very unusual," said Tom Dominguez, an investigator for the Orange County Sheriff's Department. "Kristine is very reliable with very close family ties.

Police said Friday that the ex-boyfriend of a missing 22-year-old mother of two led them to her body in a remote area southeast of Hemet and will be charged with her murder. Julian Albert Villa, an unemployed felon who was on parole for a 1991 robbery in Los Angeles County, took police to barren spot in the high desert where they found Diana Garcia Luna, who disappeared on Aug. 11--a few weeks after she filed for a restraining order against him.

Janice and Robert Walsh both knew their separation after 24 years of marriage was just a temporary matter. Even after he moved out a year ago, Robert Walsh was always a phone call away--to make repairs, spend time with family or go out for Mexican food. But now, the automated teller machine technician is gone forever, shot in the head and burned in his company car after disappearing from his work route Friday. What remains is grief and regret.

A body found along the shoreline Tuesday has been identified through dental records as that of Melissa Li, a 22-year-old UC Irvine student missing since Jan. 27. An autopsy confirmed that Li had drowned and had been in the water "for some time," Newport Beach Sgt. John Desmond said. Detectives are handling the case as a suicide, after receiving information from Li's parents that she was distraught in the days before her disappearance.

While reporting his wife missing earlier this month, City Councilwoman Susan Spanos' husband told police that she is addicted to cocaine, according to police records released Thursday. Ted Spanos, who Thursday issued a second statement regarding his wife's condition at an Anaheim medical facility, told Anaheim police on Jan. 12 that Susan Spanos had checked into the Western Medical Center for substance abuse.

Costa Mesa and Arizona authorities were digging for more possible victims Sunday at the country-club home of a 37-year-old house painter charged in the murder of Denise A. Huber, whose frozen body was found in a stolen rental truck parked in the suspect's driveway. Authorities said the continuing search of John Joseph Famalaro's hilltop property in this affluent community was partly due to police finding evidence at the house suggesting the work of a "serial killer." Costa Mesa Police Lt.

A judge on Friday informed John J. Famalaro that he faces charges of first-degree murder and kidnaping in Orange County in connection with the death of Denise Huber and set an extradition hearing in 30 days.

A 67-year-old mentally ill woman was missing Sunday after she wandered from her Irvine home. Irvine police were seeking help in finding Jane Mary Garland, who might experience seizures without the medication she takes for her mental illness. She is believed to have left her home near Culver Drive and Sandburg Way about 7 a.m., barefoot and in pajamas. Garland was described as 5-feet-7, 140 pounds, with brown hair and eyes, wearing a white or beige terry pajama set. She has a scar on her throat.

Investigators asked the public for help in locating a missing Irvine teenager, authorities said Friday. Brandon Matthew Novoa was last seen Wednesday around 3 p.m. at Woodbridge High School in Irvine, said Irvine Police Sgt. Rick Handfield. Police are investigating reports that the 16-year-old was involved in a fight with one or more teenagers at a local park near Springbrook South and Woodbridge, Handfield said.

Orange County law enforcement authorities intensified a search for an 11-year-old girl who got into the car of a family friend while walking to school Monday and vanished, possibly heading for Mexico, police said. Guadalupe Hernandez Vasquez was leaving her Laguna Hills apartment with her 9-year-old sister Monday morning when the girls noticed a family friend in a parked car in front of the building, her sister, Ana Rosa Hernandez Vasquez said.

An 87-year-old Fountain Valley woman who had been missing for two days was found Thursday at a local hospital. The woman, who suffers from dementia, was being treated for a minor foot injury and was scheduled to be released Thursday evening. The resident of Parkhurst Retirement home had been missing since Tuesday afternoon. Because of her diabetic condition, she was in need of her medications.

A 22-year-old Newport Beach man who disappeared Wednesday while jogging near Laguna Beach was found dead Thursday near Alta Laguna Park, authorities said. Searchers in a helicopter spotted the man, whose identity was not immediately released, in a brushy area less than 150 yards from the baseball diamond at the city park, Orange County sheriff's investigators said. The body did not show any signs of foul play, Laguna Beach Police Sgt.

Their wraparound sunglasses and dark tans couldn't hide the pain Saturday for commercial fishermen and boaters in Newport Beach whose friend was lost at sea. Ken Philipps, a 32-year-old boat skipper and a familiar face on the waterfront, disappeared a week ago during a routine run from Balboa Peninsula to Catalina Island. The U.S. Coast Guard announced it was halting its search for Philipps, forcing friends to come to grips with the possibility that one of their own was gone.

A search of the home of John Joseph Famalaro, who has been charged with the murder of Denise Huber of Newport Beach, turned up a bloodied crowbar and a list of about 10 names, nine of them women, authorities revealed Tuesday. Authorities located at least five of the women in Southern California and Phoenix. They planned to appeal for the public's help today in identifying the remainder. Law enforcement authorities also began searching sites in Orange County for evidence.

It has been three years to the day since her daughter, Denise, disappeared without a trace in the middle of the night, but Ione Huber feels the pain of not knowing what happened to her as if it were yesterday. At least now, however, there is something in her future other than anguish-filled days and nights waiting for the phone to ring with news about her only daughter. In July, Ione Huber and her husband, Dennis, will move back to their native North Dakota.

Coroners were trying to determine Wednesday whether a body dug up after midnight from the tiny backyard of a mobile home was that of the 86-year-old woman who had lived there. Sheriff's deputies found the badly decomposed body of an elderly woman after digging in the backyard of Katherine Poindexter, who had not been seen since May in her double-wide trailer in the 7800 block of Lampson Avenue in Stanton.

It took hitting a frightening bottom for Michael Bailey--alone and penniless in a foreign country--to discover a new life with the help of a community of strangers. Last year, Bailey responded to his mother's death by going off to Mexico, where he was robbed, injured and stranded for more than a month, sleeping out in the open. He became the subject of news stories after he somehow found his way back home, aided by local Mexican authorities and a pastor in Texas.