Orange County Public Administrator Public Guardian

Friends of a slain Laguna Niguel woman thought to have died with no relatives or will said Thursday that Orange County officials have found a cousin in Utah. Investigators with the Orange County Public Administrator/Public Guardian's office began searching last week for relatives of Jane Thompson, 72, who was found bludgeoned to death in her home June 27. A 15-year-old neighbor has been charged with the killing.

By day, Nancy M. Padberg is chief of staff for John S. Williams, Orange County's public administrator/public guardian. And at least once a month she and her boss sit at the same table as trustees of the South Orange County Community College District. The possibility that one trustee will feel pressured to politically support another because the other is her boss is raising concerns in the district and beyond.

As a judge Friday set a July 23 arraignment date for 15-year-old Samuel Moses Nelson, who is accused of bludgeoning his 72-year-old neighbor Jane Hoyt Thompson to death, a different branch of Orange County government began seeking another form of justice for the Laguna Niguel woman. Thompson -- who worked in the entertainment industry, including Broadway theater, Hollywood movies and television, and as an interior designer -- died with no known relatives, authorities say.