Remains of Californian Found Near Baja Town

By Anna Gorman And Hector Becerra

Feb. 27, 2003 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writers

Mexican police on Wednesday identified a body found in Baja California as that of Maureen Oestreich, an expatriate from Marin County who disappeared Feb. 6, and said it appears she was murdered.

Lead investigator Eduardo Ibarra said police have a few suspects and expect to solve the case within a month.

The body of the 82-year-old retired architect, who had lived in the tourist town of Todos Santos since the mid-1980s, was found last week in a rural area about three miles outside town by a man who lives on a nearby ranch.

Animals had left only bones, Ibarra said. The clothes Oestreich had been wearing -- green pants, a purple sweater and white tennis shoes -- also were found.

Ibarra said police suspect Oestreich had been robbed, but he would not elaborate or identify the suspects. But, he said, “The investigation is moving at a good pace. We think we will be successful.”

Marylou Stewart, who had known Oestreich for 20 years, said police told residents that the body was wrapped in a tarp and that there was a crack in her skull.

“They haven’t told us if that’s what killed her,” she said. Forensics tests are pending.

Oestreich’s disappearance and death shocked residents of Todos Santos, a town about 50 miles north of Cabo San Lucas that has attracted American retirees, surfers and artists for decades. With a year-round population of about 4,000 that nearly doubles in the winter tourist season, the colonial town is known for its laid-back atmosphere and as a place where Mexican locals and American expatriates interact regularly.

This past few weeks has tightened those bonds, Stewart said. A special Mass will be said on Friday in English and Spanish in Oestreich’s honor, she said.

“This has brought us together to the Mexican community, because they’re very upset about this too,” she said. “This has affected both communities greatly.”

Oestreich was last seen shortly after visiting friends who own a campground outside Todos Santos. Her friends began to worry after she failed to show up at a recital that night. The annual arts festival was underway and Oestreich had planned to attend a performance at the Marquez de Leon Theater.

Her friend Richard Olson climbed through a window of her home late that night but didn’t see anything strange. The next morning, expatriates searched at the parking lot across the street and found two small pools of blood and a few strands of blond hair. Convinced she had been killed, neighbors and friends searched the hillsides and posted fliers around town with her picture.

Robert Fleming, 74, said that, like a lot of the town’s residents, he was not surprised that authorities have concluded Oestreich probably was killed. He and others said her house had been burglarized several times in the previous month.

“Everyone pretty much was convinced she had interrupted a burglary, which turned into a robbery,” said Fleming, who has lived in Todos Santos since 1995.

Her abandoned car was found on the north side of town, her keys and empty purse inside, and her body was found on the south side.

Fleming said the discovery has especially unsettled the older American expatriates in town.

“I think the older people, like Maureen was, feel more vulnerable,” he said. “But I think our community will outlast this. The initial jolt was very strong and will be felt for a while.”

Police originally treated the case as that of an elderly person who might have had memory problems and wandered away, and they accused Oestreich’s friends of disturbing the crime scene. But on Wednesday, Ibarra said the condition and location of her body led him to believe that she probably was a homicide victim. Nearly his entire staff of 16 has been working on this case, he said.

“We’ve never had something like this,” he said. “She’s a foreigner and a defenseless, elderly woman.”

American consular officials said they had not received final confirmation of the identification or the cause of death, but may get it as early as today. Once they do, U.S. Consulate General spokeswoman Liza Davis said, her office will work with the woman’s family and investigators on what to do with Oestreich’s body.

The office will “keep tabs on the investigation and serve as a liaison with the family,” she said.