Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Man Killed, Woman Badly Hurt in Home Attack : Violence: They were bound, gagged and apparently tortured, authorities say. Motive remains unknown.

LANCASTER —  A man was killed and his girlfriend seriously injured Thursday in an attack during which they were bound, gagged and apparently tortured in their home, sheriff’s deputies said.

Anthony Readell Hogan, 27, and Treshana Laronda Sherouse, 22, both of Lancaster, were discovered at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in the one-story house they shared at 3549 W. Ave. K-10, said Sgt. Tom Harris, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide investigator who was called to the scene.

“It appears that both victims were bound and gagged and may have been tortured,” he said. “They have been beaten.”

Harris said the apparent torture involved burning of Hogan, but he declined to elaborate.

The motive was unknown, but investigators said the attack may have been part of a residential robbery. Investigators were searching for the couple’s two-door burgundy-and-white Oldsmobile Cutlass, which was missing from the house.

On Thursday morning, friends of the victims who stopped by the residence, found the couple and called 911, the investigator said.

Sherouse was taken to Antelope Valley Hospital in critical condition and was undergoing surgery Thursday, Harris said.

Deputies said Sherouse was too badly injured to say what had happened, but investigators said they hope to question her when her condition improves.

The two were discovered bound in the same room, but the investigator would not say what was used to tie them up.

Harris said an autopsy would be conducted to determine the cause of Hogan’s death. “We can’t tell what the trauma is,” he said.

Harris said the two were not married but lived together. Neighbors said Sherouse was Hogan’s girlfriend.

Hogan’s white ice cream truck was still in the driveway as family and friends held a late-night vigil at his home Thursday, waiting for developments.

Children from the neighborhood stopped by Hogan’s house to pay their respects.

“I don’t see why people wanted to hurt Anthony,” said Shirley Wilson, 14, who lives across the street. “He used to give the kids around here free candy and ice cream.”

Hogan grew up in Los Angeles and moved to the Antelope Valley in 1988. He moved to the house on Avenue K about three years ago, family and neighbors said.

His sister-in-law, who declined to be identified, said she was in shock from the viciousness of the attack.

“I didn’t believe that something so cruel could happen to him,” she said. “It is still hard to believe.”

Times staff writer Jeannette DeSantis contributed to this story.