CARLSBAD, Calif. — Carlsbad police returned to the scene of a murder in Hosp Grove, exactly one week after a 68-year-old woman was found stabbed to death on a hiking trail.
Investigators are going on the theory that the murder of Lisa Thorborg was a random attack.
Crimes of violence detective Ronald DeMent spent the morning on the trails, handing out flyers and looking for witnesses who may have been in the area one week ago.
A memorial of flowers and painted rocks has formed along the trail where a passerby found Thorborg’s body on the morning of November 23.
The hiker had been stabbed to death. Police said blood was found on Thorborg's face and underneath her head but detectives have not released the location of the wounds.
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DeMent handed a flier to neighbor Michael Cornish, who was walking his dogs on the trail. Cornish said he was not in the area on the day of the attack, but he had some questions for the detective.
“She was attacked out of the blue?” asked Cornish.
“Yeah, yeah,” DeMent replied.
“Is there any DNA evidence?” Cornish followed up.
“I don't know. We have a lot to do, but just any information that you have just let us know,” the detective said.
Investigators initially had put out a description of a person they wanted to question; a man seen in the area the morning of the murder.
That man has now been contacted, the detective said, and it does not appear he is connected to the case.
Investigators are going on the theory that Thorborg did not know her attacker.
It appears she hiked down from the trailhead off Crest Drive, just a few blocks from her home on Buena Vista Way.
“It’s unsettling and hard to believe. I walk here at least three times a week and I’ve never seen any suspicious character,” said Cornish.
Thorborg's body was found near the site of the current memorial, less than 150 feet from the road on the west side of Monroe Street.
If you have any information or noticed anyone suspicious in the Hosp Grove area on the morning of Monday, November 23 between 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., call Carlsbad Police.