This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Death Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/JW.2ADE/7951 Message Board Post: Daily Independent newspaper Ridgecrest CA Kern County April 14, 2005 MISSING WOMAN FOUND DEAD CONCERNED FAMILY MEMBER HAS LANDLORD OPEN APARTMENT AFTER FOUR DAYS A Ridgecrest family is in shock and mourning today following the discovery of their missing loved one. Wendy Pelvin, 35, had been missing for about four days when her body was found in her upstairs apartment in the 300 block of West Wilson Street. Her brother-in-law Bennet Guarino of Ridgecrest asked the landlord of the apartment complex to open the door Tuesday morning just after 10 am. "We opened up the door and we walked in. She wasn't in the living room. Her bedroom door was locked. We knocked and knocked and there was no answer. We opened the door with a credit card." said Guarino. "We found her lying face down. Her skin was all black. I called 911 and they talked me through CPR," he said, his eyes filling with tears. He was instructed by the 911 dispatcher to turn her over, check to be sure her throat was clear, administer rescue breathing, then apply check ressure until the paramedics arrived. "They told me to stop and said she's already dead. I asked them to shock her or something and they said no, there was nothing they could do, she had been gone too long," He said paramedics estimated she had been deceased for two or three days. Both Liberty Ambulance and Kern County Fire Department Station 74 were on the scene. Guarino said she left two children behind, a girl and a boy. Both children had stayed with their father that weekend and were not home to witness the tragic scene. Ridgecrest police officers received the call at 10:16 am. Tuesday and were on the scene within minutes. According to Ridgecrest Police the case is being investigated as a natural death pending notification from the coroner of the autopsy results. "I had been looking for her about four days," said Guarino. "It's not like her to just disappear. I called and called but there was no answer. I tried a couple of places I knew she hung out, and talked to some of her friends. No one had seen her." He said he did not know of any medical problems she might have had that would have been a factor. "It's a real tragedy. She was a very pretty girl, very intelligent. She's a private person. But we worried about her," said Guarino. He said she had a number of boy friends but was not aware of any who might have caused trouble for her. "She had signed up to go back to Cerro Coso. She was going to be a registered nurse and had her grant and everything," said Guarino. He said she was a lab technician. According to the coroner's officer the autopsy was conducted Tuesday but the case is still pending the return of the toxicology reports. Not information will be released until the results come back in six to eight weeks. Apparents a crow gathered on the sidewalk while emergency personnel were on scene Tuesday morning. In the crowd was a Ridgecrest resident that police recognized as having an outstanding warrant for his arrest on previous drug-related charges. He was subsequently arrested. According toe police the arrest was unrelated to the investigation into Pelvin's death.