Ellroy: June 2008 Archives

 From the San Gabriel Valley Daily Tribune June 23, 1958:

Blonde Suspect Sought

DIVORCEE MURDERED

Woman Strangled by Cord and Stocking

EL MONTE -- A blonde woman with a pony tail is sought today as the suspect in the murder of an El Monte woman.

The body of the victim, strangled with a cotton cord and one of her stockings, was found yesterday in a lane leading to the Arroyo High School here.

She was identified as Mrs. Jean Ellroy, 756 Maple Ave., a 37-year-old divorcee and the mother of a 10-year-old boy. The blonde woman being hunted by police was seen with her Saturday night in a cocktail bar at 11721 E. Valley Boulevard., where Mrs. Ellroy's car was discovered yesterday.

Driven to Lane

Sheriff's Inspector R.T. Paronsonm said the woman was apparently strangled elsewhere and driven to the lane, which is known as Kings Row.

Pearls from a broken necklace led to the body, which was sprawled in an acacia thicket across from the high school athletic field.

She was dressed in a torn blue-print dress, but wore no undergarments, A navy blue coat covered the nude lower half of her body. The stocking on her left leg was pulled down to her ankle and her brassiere lay in ivy next to her body.

News Report

The victim was identified by her landlady, Mrs. George Krycki, 36, of 700 E. Bryant Road, who heard a news report of the finding of the body.

Mrs. Krycki described the divorcee as a "very fine person ...a quiet woman who neither drank nor dated men .. a good mother to her boy."

Detectived said there was an asphalt mark on the victims left hip, indicating she was dragged along pavement at some other spot. There were no marks on the pavement or in the ivy where the body was found.

With Husband

Her son was with her divorced husband, Armand Lee Ellroy, 60, an accountant of 4980 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, during the weekend. Ellroy was unable to give police a clue to the murder. He said he had been divorced from her about four years.

The slaim woman's body was found by three Babe Ruth baseball league coaches who were walking to the schools' baseball diamond with a group of ball players yesterday.

The coaches were identified as Herman C. Warner, 52, of El Monte; Richard Grinnold, 44,  abd Kendall E. Nungesser, 46, of San Gabriel.

Mrs. Ellroy, a redhead, was employed as a nurse by the Aero Dynamics Corp. in Los Angeles. 

Several weeks ago I wrote about a group of French journalists who contacted me regarding a documentary about crime in Los Angeles.

Initially they suggested following me around for a couple of days and asked that I give them the names of people familiar with LA area crime. I coughed up the names. And, it sounds like the project is coming along fine.

The next time I heard from these folks it was to see if I could arrange an interview with James Ellroy. He's loved like Jerry Lewis over there apparently.

I declined and told them to arrange the interview themselves. Don't know if that happened or not. Somehow I doubt it did.

Anyway, here's the latest email exchange between me and the Frenchies: