Lexus connected to homicide is found

Nearly nine months after the bodies of a Costa Mesa man and Fountain Valley woman were discovered in a mobile home park in Stanton, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday that it has made a breakthrough in the double-homicide: the woman’s white Lexus has been found at a motel in Anaheim.

“I believe it’s a major break in the investigation,” Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department, said late Wednesday afternoon. “Hopefully, someone will recognize who was driving that car and come forward.”

On Feb. 2, the bodies of Matthew Francis Scott, 42, of Costa Mesa, and Elizabeth Ann Palmer, 50, of Fountain Valley, were discovered in the office of Golden Sun Homes mobile park. Both victims had been shot to death, Amormino said.

Palmer’s white 2004 Lexus GS300 was spotted by an Anaheim patrol officer at the El Dorado Inn, 3360 W. Lincoln Ave., Anaheim.

The original licenses plates had been removed, and the rear plate replaced with a temporary tag from the South Bay Toyota dealership, Amormino said.

The Lexus is now being processed for evidence at the sheriff’s crime lab in Santa Ana, he said.

A $75,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction. Call (866) TIP-OCSD.

— Imran Vittachi