Victim ID'd, Man Arrested In OC Motel Murder: Police

SANTA ANA, CA — A woman was found dead this week inside a Santa Ana motel room, and one man has been detained in Tulare County in connection her death, police said. Milton Louis Mayfield, 55, of Anaheim, is suspected in the death of 55- year-old Deborah Ann Simon, whose body was found shortly after 5 a.m. Tuesday at a motel in the 1400 block of East First Street.

According to Santa Ana police Sgt. Anthony Bertagna, Mayfield was spotted by California Highway Patrol officers at just after 4 a.m. Tuesday with a disabled vehicle alongside a freeway in Tulare County.

"When officers spoke to him, Mayfield made spontaneous statements indicating he may have killed a woman in a motel room in the area of First Street and Grand Avenue in the city of Santa Ana," Bertagna said.

CHP officers detained Mayfield and contacted Santa Ana police, who began searching various motels in the area, eventually discovering Simon at the Sunshine Village Motel. She was pronounced dead by paramedics at 5:21 a.m, police said.

Santa Ana detectives traveled to Visalia and interviewed Mayfield, and he was brought back to Santa Ana and booked into the city jail on suspicion of murder. Police said the disabled vehicle found with him in Tulare County belonged to Simon.

The woman's cause of death has not yet been released. There was also no immediate word on a motive for the killing.

Santa Ana Police photos