BREAKING NEWS

Two suspects in the slaying of a Huntington Beach woman are back in Huntington Beach after authorities extradited the pair from Louisiana.

Ian Allen, 21, and a 17-year-old girl, who police declined to identify because she is a minor, were escorted back by four Huntington Beach detectives on separate flights to John Wayne Airport and then taken into custody in Huntington Beach, Lt. Dave Bunetta and Capt. Dan Johnson said. The two are being held on suspicion of killing Barbara Anne Mullenix, who was 56 years old.

Mullenix’s body was found stabbed and floating, wrapped in a blanket, near the Newport Harbor Yacht Club on Sept. 13. Mullenix, who was unemployed, lived in a Huntington Beach condominium with her ex-husband and 17-year-old daughter.

Johnson said Mullenix had been stabbed several times and that it was possible she had been dead for a while before her body was dumped in the water.

Authorities could not track down the daughter when Mullenix’s body was found. Police declined to confirm widespread media reports that the 17-year-old in custody is Mullenix’s daughter.

Louisiana troopers arrested the pair Sept. 15 while they were en route to Tampa Bay, Fla., in a black pick-up, Johnson said.

Although some of Mullenix’s neighbors, according to Johnson, spoke of past conflicts between the mother and daughter, others described the household as tranquil.

Michael Harrison, an investment banker who lives in the complex, said he had seen the mother and daughter together a number of times and detected no tension between them. He described Mullenix as a quiet woman with an easy smile.