| For Immediate Release November 18th, 2005 |
Contact: | Mark Macaulay Media Relations Spokesperson (714) 347-8405 Office (714) 323-4486 Cell |
MURDER CHARGES FILED AGAINST A NEVADA MAN FOR THE DEATH OF A YOUNG NURSE 31 YEARS AGO
Santa Ana – The Orange County District Attorney announced today that retired computer technician Louis Wiechecki, 61, of Henderson, Nevada has been arrested and charged with the 1974 murder of 27-year-old nurse Linda Cummings in her Santa Ana apartment. If convicted the defendant faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The defendant worked at the Aladdin Apartments in Santa Ana as a maintenance man in the 1970s. On January 24, 1974, he is accused of going to the victim’s apartment under the guise of checking on her because she had not left for her shift as a nurse at Doctor’s Hospital in Santa Ana. Wiechecki is accused of entering the apartment using a master key. Miss Cummings was found hanging in her bedroom with ropes tied to opposite sides of the room and double knotted in a unique way behind her neck. The defendant is accused of manipulating and misleading law enforcement to the point where the coroner originally ruled the death as suicide. No charges were filed against the defendant at the time even though he was considered the prime suspect.
Miss Cummings was a young woman who had dedicated her life to taking care of others. In her private life, she helped raise three younger siblings. She was a nurse professionally.
Five weeks after Miss Cummings was killed, there was another homicide victim who was acquainted with the defendant in the same apartment complex. The defendant killed his 78-year-old boss Marion Morgan, the landlord of the apartment building. The defendant left her corpse tied in a distinctive manner in an empty lot near the complex. Mrs. Morgan’s body was wrapped in Defendant’s bedspread.
“When a young woman dies a terrible, mysterious death, we will never give up in bringing the person responsible for that murder to justice,” said Senior Deputy District Attorney Larry Yellin in the Homicide Unit. “As time goes on, law enforcement methods and intelligence grows. Fewer killers will get away with what they did.”
A recent investigation by the Santa Ana Police Department and the Orange County District Attorney’s TracKRS Unit led to murder charges being filed against Wiechecki. The Henderson Police Department should be commended for their tremendous efforts in assisting Orange County law enforcement. The defendant was arrested on Thursday at his home and is currently in custody in Nevada awaiting extradition. Wiechecki will appear in Clark County Superior Court next week.