Posted on 12/20/2002 4:40:59 PM PST by Minutemen
Posted on Fri, Dec. 20, 2002 Dr Laura's Mother Apparently Murdered in L.A. BY DAN WHITCOMB Reuters
LOS ANGELES - The badly decomposed body of a murdered woman, identified as the mother of popular radio talk-show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger, has been found at a Beverly Hills home, police said on Friday.
Though police said they had not yet confirmed that the elderly woman found on Monday was Yolanda Schlessinger, the talk-show host issued a statement addressing the death of her mother and alluding to their bitter estrangement.
"I am horrified by the tragic circumstances of my mother's death and so sad to learn that she died as she chose to live -- alone and isolated," Laura Schlessinger said in the statement.
"My mother shut all her family out of her life over the years, though we made several futile attempts to stay connected," she said. "May God rest her soul."
The body believed to be that of Yolanda Schlessinger was found by police after concerned neighbors said they had not seen her in several weeks. An autopsy revealed that she had been murdered, said Beverly Hills Police Lt. Gary Gilmond.
"I cannot confirm that it is in fact (Schlessinger's) mother but we are operating on that assumption," Gilmond said.
Although the body was found in Yolanda Schlessinger's home, it was so badly decomposed that identification was not yet possible, he said. Gilmond said the state of the body and home suggested that the woman had been dead for a "substantial period of time," possibly several months.
Gilmond said coroner's officials were working to positively identify the murder victim.
A spokesman for the Los Angeles County Coroner's office said further tests were required to determine the cause of death and that medical examiners had not yet issued a report.
Schlessinger hosts one of the country's most popular syndicated radio programs, which according to her Web site is heard by 12 million listeners on 315 stations across the U.S.
Schlessinger, who has a doctorate in physiology from Columbia University, dispenses advice to her listeners and is known for her brusque persona and emphasis on personal responsibility.
According to a Vanity Fair profile in 1998 and other press reports, Schlessinger was estranged from her mother, and had not seen her in 14 years. Schlessinger had told People magazine four years earlier that her mother was "filled with negativity."
The former Yolanda Ceccovini was an Italian war bride who was divorced from her husband, Monty, who died in 1990. Their other daughter, Cyndi, was also estranged from Laura, according to Vanity Fair.
I could have written that about my siblings too.
I hope things work out well for you with your sister....your post gives me hope, that despite the length of estrangement, good may someday come.
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