Prosecutors on Friday charged a 39-year-old woman with murder in the fatal shooting of a man whose body was discovered in the backyard of a Harbor Gateway home this week.
Kristin Olson — also known as Kristin King Olson — was scheduled to be arraigned in the afternoon on a count of murder with gun use allegations, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The charging document alleges the Gardena woman shot and killed 62-year-old Royce Leon Lanham between Sept. 5 and Sept 12, the same day his body was found.
Officers made the grim discovery after receiving a report of a woman apparently attempting to dispose of a body in the rear of a property in the 800 block of 173rd Street on Wednesday morning, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
The corpse was found on a dolly, wrapped in black plastic bags or a tarp, Sky5 aerial video showed. A hole and digging tools could be seen nearby.
The defendant rented a room in the victim’s home, according to the DA’s office. Neighbors told KTLA they believed Lanham had been trying to evict Olson over possible drug use.
He hadn’t been seen for four or five days when a friend of the victim’s went to the home to check on him.
According to a resident who lived a few doors away, she ran out and went up to him, saying, “They killed my friend. They killed my friend.”
Olson was arrested later that afternoon, jail records showed.
She is being held on $2 million, but prosecutors are recommending the amount be increased to $3 million, according to the DA’s office.
Olson faces 50 years to life in prison if convicted.