See Update No. 2 on page 2 with the murder charges identifying the victim.
See Update No. 1 on the next page with the police identification of the suspect and the crime-scene hotel.
ORIGINAL POST, FEB. 13, 11:11 A.M.: It sounds like the beginning of a late-night-TV whodunit: Cops arrive at a hotel to find a dead woman and a man nursing a serious injury.
But when it comes to Tuesday's mystery, Anaheim police believe they have their suspect: the man from the hotel room now being treated for a significant abdominal injury in a local trauma center.
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The call came in around 1:45 p.m. Tuesday from a hotel in the 1800 block of South Manchester Avenue. Based on a quick look at Google maps, that could be the Comfort Suites and Inn on the other side of Katella Avenue off Manchester, although the lobby door faces Katella.
There are no other hotels or motels until you get to the 1700 block of Manchester, according to the online service, but it's possible another structure went up after the map was created because that portion of the street feeds into Disney Way and the backside of Disneyland, around which new hotels spring up as though weeds.
Whichever hotel it is, its employees called the cops to say a couple that was supposed to have checked out at 11 a.m. had not–so take that as fair warning if you ever overstay your tenancy. Officers found the yet-to-be identified couple inside the room.
The specific cause of the wounds each suffered has not been disclosed, but police say one thing they are trying to determine is whether this was a case of domestic violence. It was certainly some kind of violence.
The suspect remains under guard in a local hospital, and once he is released, he will be booked on suspicion of murder, according to police, who are collecting tips about what happened between the two through Orange County CrimeStoppers at 1.855.TIP.OCCS.
UPDATE NO. 1, FEB. 14, 4:35 P.M.: The Anaheim Police Department has identified the man suspected of murdering his wife as Bruce Allen Ohlwine Jr., 48, of Ontario. His wife, who sustained multiple stab wounds, has not yet been named.
Police say a knife was recovered in the room of the Staybridge Suites, 1855 S. Manchester Ave., Anaheim.
The Orange County Register, citing court records, reports a person with the same name and date of birth as Ohlwine had a March 14 court date in Orange County on charges of felony pimping, conspiracy and misdemeanor resisting an officer.
Homefacts.com has a mugshot for a Bruce Allen Ohlwine of the same age with Anaheim as a last known address.
Based on the Homefacts.com mug and a smiliar-looking one supplied by the Ontario Police Department, officers shot at and missed the same man when he allegedly drove toward an officer who'd come to serve a warrant in March 2012 because Ohlwine had failed to register as a sex offender.
Ontario Police Cpl. Bill Russell wrote in his statement at that time that Ohlwine has a history of sexual assaults and
violence.
“Ohlwine became uncooperative when officers attempted to take him
into custody,” reads the statement. “After a short altercation,
Ohwine fled in his vehicle, nearly striking one officer. In fear for his life, the officer fired his handgun at Ohlwine.”
A short chase ended at Ohlwine's home, where officers used a police dog to help arrest him, according to Ontario Police, who added Ohlwine's then-37-year-old wife Saori Ohlwine was also arrested on suspicion of obstruction of justice for allegedly assaulting arresting officers. (Anaheim Police have not confirmed the name or age of the deceased woman at Staybridge Suites.)
Bruce Ohlwine, who remains in a hospital for injuries suffered in the Anaheim hotel, was also hospitalized after the Ontario incident.
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UPDATE NO. 2, FEB. 20, 4:39 P.M.: Orange County Superior Court documents outlining the murder charges against Bruce Ohlwine confirm that his wife Saori Ohlwine was the victim.
Besides felony murder, he is facing a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a weapon, a knife.
Bruce Ohlwine is being held in lieu of $1 million bail pending a March 8 arraignment hearing.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.