Break in Stanton Murders Investigation

Stanton - Orange County sheriff's investigators recovered a car that was stolen after a man and woman were killed in a Stanton mobile-home sales office in February, officials said today.

"This is a huge break," sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said.

Golden Sun Homes owner Richard Palmer found his son, Matthew Francis Scott, 42, of Costa Mesa, and longtime secretary Elizabeth Ann Palmer, 50, of Fountain Valley, shot to death in the company's office at 12331 Beach Blvd. Feb. 2.

Investigators have been looking for Palmer's 2004 Lexus GS300 since the killings. This week they found the car in the parking lot of the El Dorado Inn, 3360 W. Lincoln Ave. in Anaheim, and staked it out, hoping someone would try to drive it, Amormino said.

Amormino declined to say just how long investigators watched the car, but today the vehicle was towed to the county's forensics lab so it could be examined for evidence.

Someone had removed the license plates and put a temporary paper plate on the back, Amormino said.

"We're hoping someone in the El Dorado Inn might have seen who drove it in," Amormino said, adding deputies were canvassing the motel for witnesses.

There is a $75,000 reward being offered for information leading to an arrest in the case, Amormino said. The victims' loved ones offered a $25,000 reward in August and the governor is contributing another $50,000, he added.

The car appeared to be in good shape, Amormino said. It could not be sold because authorities had the vehicle identification number flagged, he added.