| For Immediate Release September 14, 2006 |
Contact: | Susan Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel (714) 347-8408 Office (714) 323-4486 Cell |
NEVADA MAN TO BE ARRAIGNED AFTER GRAND JURY INDICTMENT FOR MURDERING YOUNG NURSE’S AIDE 32 YEARS AGO
SANTA ANA – The Orange County Grand Jury indicted a Nevada man for murdering a 27-year-old nurse’s aide in 1974. Louis Wiechecki, 62, Henderson, N.V., is charged with murder and faces life in prison if convicted. He is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow, September 15, 2006, at
9:00 a.m. in Department C-5, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
On January 24, 1974, 27-year-old nurse’s aide Linda Cummings was found hanging in her Santa Ana apartment. Police arrived at the scene to find Ms. Cummings hanging in her bedroom with ropes tied to opposite sides of the room and double knotted in a unique way behind her neck. The coroner at the time ruled the death a suicide because Wiechecki, who worked at the Aladdin Apartments as a maintenance man, told police that Ms. Cummings was suffering from depression. No charges were filed even though Wiechecki was considered the prime suspect.
Five weeks after Ms. Cummings’ death, Marion Morgan, 78, who was also a resident of the Aladdin Apartments, was found murdered and dumped in an empty lot near the complex. Morgan was Wiechecki’s boss, and her body was discovered wrapped in his bedspread and tied with a rope in a distinctive manner. Wiechecki was convicted of voluntary manslaughter.
The Orange County District Attorney re-opened the investigation into the death of Linda Cummings. As a result, Wiechecki was arrested in November 2005, in Henderson, and charged with murder. He was living under the name David Louis Stanley. He is accused of going to the victim’s apartment on January 24, 1974 under the guise of checking on her because she had not shown up for her shift as a nurse’s aide at Doctor’s Hospital in Santa Ana. He is accused of using a master key to enter her apartment. Wiechecki is accused of strangling Cummings and killing her, and then hanging her in her apartment to make it look as if she killed herself. He is accused of manipulating and misleading law enforcement in order to have the murder be ruled a suicide.
The Santa Ana Police Department and the Henderson Police Department assisted in this case. Senior Deputy District Attorney Larry Yellin of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
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