Woman killed, boyfriend injured in Van Nuys attack

VAN NUYS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A woman was killed and her boyfriend suffered a stab wound in an apparent attack in Van Nuys on Tuesday.

Police said the incident took place near Lemay Street and Kester Avenue. The boyfriend told investigators that he and his girlfriend were attacked by three men in an alley around 4 a.m.

After the attack, he said he lost consciousness. After he came to, he called authorities around 8 a.m. That's when police and paramedics rushed to the scene.

"LAPD units arrived, and he pointed out the location of his girlfriend, who was slumped over the front seat of his vehicle," said LAPD Capt. Lillian Carranza of the Van Nuys Station.

The 32-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene, and the 40-year-old man was transported to an area hospital with a non-life-threatening stab wound, police said.

Investigators were interviewing the boyfriend at the hospital, where he is listed in stable condition. Information they attain from that interview will determine if an active search gets underway for a suspect.

Officials recovered a weapon - a knife.

Detectives are not sure if the incident involved domestic violence or if it was a robbery.

"We still have a long ways to go in this investigation," Carranza said. "We're not discounting any angle; whether it's a robbery, whether it's a domestic [incident] or a murder-suicide; we do not know."

Neighbors said they didn't hear any type of commotion.

"I looked down that way because that's where the ambulance, sirens stopped, and they were taping it up. And when I turned to the right to go to the trash cans, there was a black truck there, and it looked like a lady laying in the alley, and she had a bunch of red on her side, and cop swarmed me, and that was about it," described Frank Minks, a neighbor.

Another neighbor said the boyfriend rented her garage and used it to store work tools. She said he is a painter.

Police said there are many moving parts to the investigation. They were going door-to-door looking for witnesses to help clear up what happened in the alley.

The incident remains under investigation. Anyone with information about this incident is urged to call the Van Nuys Detective Desk at (818) 374-0040.