Body Believed That of Missing Brea Woman

A body, believed to be that of a missing Brea woman, was found Tuesday morning in the back seat of the woman’s 1981 Cadillac, found abandoned in a Fullerton field.

Fullerton police said the clothed body was so badly decomposed that the coroner’s office could not positively identify it late Tuesday. A post-mortem examination was scheduled for today, said Fullerton Police Lt. Richard Foisy.

Marie Andrea Malmgreen, 38, wife of Los Angeles Police Detective Russell Malmgreen, was last seen one week ago as she dropped her 16-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son at a school near the family’s home in Brea. After she missed two appointments later that day, a description of her 1981 Cadillac Biarritz was broadcast to police agencies.

Fullerton Police Sgt. Jeffrey Roop, who was on patrol Tuesday morning, discovered the car parked among others in a field behind an apartment complex at Bastanchury and Associated roads in Fullerton.

Police said dust on the car indicated that it had been parked for several days. The body was found under a blanket in the back seat.

Russell Malmgreen, a 19-year veteran of the Los Angeles department, serves as judicial liaison officer in Chief Daryl Gates’ office. He had previously been assigned to the department’s anti-terrorist division.

Investigators had said earlier that while they suspected foul play in the woman’s disappearance, they did not believe it was connected with her husband’s work.