2 Bodies Found Inside Apartment

LAGUNA NIGUEL â€”  Sheriff’s deputies are investigating the deaths of two people whose bodies were found inside a Crown Valley Parkway apartment Monday after employers and family members, unable to contact them, became concerned.

Sheriff’s officials, who described the deaths as the department’s first homicides of 1991, declined to identify the victims or provide details until positive identifications are made and next of kin notified.

Neighbors, however, said the two-bedroom apartment in the Crown Terrace complex was occupied by Suzette Davis, 39; her daughters, Jodi Nordfelt, 20, and Sylvia Burke, 13; and her husband, Robert William Davis Jr., 38.

Suzette and Robert Davis and Nordfelt did not show up for work Monday and could not be reached by employers and family despite repeated attempts to contact them, according to friends and associates of the three people. All worked within walking distance of their home on a ridge near Crown Valley Parkway and Niguel Road.

Sylvia Burke, the only other occupant of the apartment, was in protective custody at Orangewood Children’s Home in Orange, a friend of the family said. Orangewood would not confirm whether she was at the facility.

Deputies discovered the two bodies at 9 a.m. after a family member--believed to be Sylvia--could not reach anyone at the apartment, said Lt. Richard J. Olson, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

Autopsies are scheduled for today.

While detectives tried to piece together what happened, friends and acquaintances of the Davises gathered behind police lines Monday and talked about their last encounters with the family.

Neighbors at the apartment complex said they had not heard any disturbances or unusual noises coming from the Davis apartment over the last few days.

Christa Allen, an eighth-grader at Niguel Hills Junior High, said she had seen Sylvia and her stepfather, Robert Davis, Saturday night at her Rancho Niguel home. About 9 a.m. Sunday, Robert Davis showed up at Allen’s house to pick up Sylvia, said Bill Orr, Christa’s father.

“He said he was taking her to her grandmom’s,� Christa said.

Orr said he received a telephone call Monday afternoon from Sylvia and quoted her as saying that two of her relatives were dead. Orr said a social worker told him that Sylvia was being held in protective custody at Orangewood.

“Sylvia sounded confused,� Orr said. “She asked me to pick up her dog from the apartment. She said she didn’t have anyone to go to.�

Residents of the apartment complex described the family “as friendly and decent people,� but court and police records show that Robert Davis had a problem with alcohol and had been convicted on two counts of grand theft in May, 1989.

Court records show he was sentenced to one year in jail and three years’ probation. In letters to Superior Court Judge Luis Cardenas, Robert Davis repeatedly begged the judge to reduce his sentence.

“I am going crazy in here,� he wrote. “I would like to be able to go to (Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings on the streets. Please in God’s name help me.�

Bob Willey, the manager of the Shell gas station at Niguel Road and Crown Valley Parkway where Robert Davis worked as a cashier, described the former trucker “an average worker.�

“He told me how he had lost his license because of problems with alcohol and that he was down on his luck,� Willey said. “He wanted to put his life together again so we gave him a break.�

Staff writer Lily Eng contributed to this report.