Retired Doctor Killed, House Is Ransacked
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A retired pediatrician was found beaten to death in her ransacked house near the USC campus, police said Friday.
Dr. Audrey Derrick, 64, was found in her residence in the 1000 block of Leighton Avenue Thursday night after police officers were summoned by friends who had not seen her for several days, Detective John Bunch said.
Derrick died of head injuries suffered in a beating with a blunt object, Bunch said.
Detectives found no sign of a break-in at the single-story, well-tended wood-frame house and believe that the doctor, who lived alone, may have opened the door for her attacker, Bunch said.
The house was ransacked, but no large items of value were stolen, Bunch said, adding that detectives were trying to determine what her assailant was looking for and what was taken.
Bunch said Derrick came to Los Angeles more than 10 years ago, after leaving a pediatric medical practice in London.
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