PALMDALE, Calif.–A 51-year-old Antelope Valley man was arrested last night on suspicion of murdering his 41-year-old girlfriend, who was found stabbed to death in her Palmdale home, authorities said this morning.
Kenneth Roger Griffin walked into the Palmdale Sheriff Station to speak to detectives at 7:45 p.m. Monday, when he was arrested, said Deputy Benjamin Grubb of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s headquarters bureau.
Until they announced the arrest, the sheriff’s department had said Griffin was not a suspect but that he should make himself available for questioning.
The coroner’s office declined to name the victim, citing a “security hold” this morning, but neighbors and relatives identified her as Andrea Perry, a single mother who cared for six children –four born to her, plus two she was in the process of adopting. They range in age from 1 to 14.
The woman’s body was discovered about 9:30 a.m. Sunday inside her house in the 39000 block of Desert Holly Lane, said sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Thomas.
Neighbor Brett Kepner told Fox 11 that Perry’s 13-year-old daughter discovered her mother’s body.
“Nine o’clock in the morning, you don’t (normally) see a 13-year-old girl in her front yard crying and upset,” Kepner said.
The victim’s brother, Lowell Perry, told Channel 11 that his sister “was the glue to the family. When we would get out of touch with each other, she was the one who brought everybody back together.”
Thomas asked anyone with information on the slaying to call the sheriff’s homicide bureau at (323) 890-5500.
