School teacher, 27, is found dead and stuffed in the trunk of a burnt out car in Los Angeles: Neighbors say they heard woman screaming before it exploded
- Police are hunting for answers after a ‘quiet’ elementary school teacher, 27, was found murdered in blazing car.
- A neighbor heard a ‘blood-curdling scream’ from Quartz Hill home in the early hours before the house ‘exploded’ later that morning
By Dominic Yeatman For Dailymail.Com[1]
Published: 16:10, 21 December 2023 | Updated: 20:59, 21 December 2023
Firefighters called to an LA house fire opened its garage to find the body of a young schoolteacher stuffed in the trunk of a burned out car.
Police have opened a murder investigation and are hunting for the house’s owner after the grisly discovery in Quartz Hill on Wednesday morning.
The woman has been identified locally as a 27-year-old teacher at an elementary school in nearby Palmdale, and neighbors on 38th West Street said the horror appeared to start in the early hours.
‘Around 2am I heard a blood-curdling scream,’ said one.
‘I had just opened my window after I was finished with some work and when I went to go check, I didn’t hear it anymore.’
Firefighters made the grisly find soon after arriving at the house at 8.20am on Wednesday
A neighbor heard a ‘blood-curdling scream’ from Quartz Hill home in the early hours before the house ‘exploded’ later that morning
The house is listed to Matthew Switalski, 37, a bible school graduate who works as a cost controller at aerospace company Northrop Grumman.
Neighbors on the 41400 block said he rented out several rooms in the five-bedroom home to company employees, none of whom appear to have been at home at the time of the fire.
Witnesses recalled hearing an ‘explosion’ at the house, and firefighters arrived at around 8.20am, taking an hour to bring the blaze under control.
‘As the location firemen were clearing the garage they found a body, then they notified the deputies and the person was pronounced dead on the scene,’ said Lt Daniel Vizcarra of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
A man who said he was the victim’s uncle described her as ‘quiet’ and told CBS that the school where she worked had called the family when she did not turn up to work yesterday morning.
He said she had been in a relationship for about a year, while neighbors told the channel that her boyfriend owned the property.
Firefighters used a circular drill to access the car and another badly damaged car was parked next to it.
Responders used a circular saw to cut their way into one of the badly damaged cars
The victim was identified as a 27-year-old teacher at an elementary school in nearby Palmdale
Police are trying to trace both the owner and other housemates of the dead young woman
Police said neither the owner or any of the residents had yet come forward.
‘We’re trying to get in contact with all the residents,’ Lt Vizcarra told KTLA 5.
‘It’s very unsettling to know that it’s down the street,’ said the neighbor.
Dailymail.com has reached out to the owner and the LA Sheriff’s Department for more information.
References
- ^ Dominic Yeatman For Dailymail.Com (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Los Angeles (www.dailymail.co.uk)