Woman Fatally Beaten With Bottle; Husband Arrested

A Santa Ana man was arrested Tuesday after his wife was beaten to death with an empty champagne bottle. Their 13-month-old daughter, Natalie, who was in her mother’s arms during the beating, was in “extremely critical condition” on life support systems at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana on Tuesday night with head injuries, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Joseph Peter Lynch, 43, called police about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday to say that someone had been killed at his apartment in the 700 block of West 1st Street, Santa Ana police spokeswoman Maureen Thomas said.

Officers found Helen Lynch, 35, on the living room floor, dead of head injuries. In her arms was the couple’s daughter, Natalie Alexandra Lynch, who had been beaten on the head with the bottle, Thomas said.

Joseph Lynch initially told police that a neighbor had committed the crime, Thomas said.

“But then he changed his stories and told police officers that he had, in fact, killed his wife,” she said. “It was an extremely brutal attack,” Thomas added.

Police could not determine a motive for the slaying, but said it appeared they had drunk the champagne Monday evening.

“There were signs at the apartment that they had been drinking,” Thomas said, but investigators “don’t believe he was intoxicated.”

The couple’s two other daughters, ages 4 and 9, were asleep in the bedroom when their mother was slain. Neighbors said Tuesday that officers took the daughters out of the apartment through the bedroom window so they wouldn’t see their mother’s beaten body. The girls were taken to Orangewood Children’s Home, where they are in protective custody.

Thomas said that Lynch, an engineer, is a Scottish citizen and that his wife was an Australian citizen. They had lived in the United States for about 4 years.

Lynch was held in Orange County Jail on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, with bail set at $250,000.

Anne Macri, who lives in the apartment complex, said Joseph Lynch was on the complex’s homeowners association board of directors.

“Joe’s a very, very nice person, very friendly, very outgoing,” Macri said. His wife “was very quiet. . . . Yesterday (Monday), I don’t know why he was off work because he works every day. But yesterday he was very strange.”

‘Spent Time With Kids’

Cindy Aguilar, who used to live at the complex and was visiting there Tuesday, said Joseph Lynch “was the one who spent a lot of time with the kids,” Aguilar said. “He would play in the pool with the kids while (Helen) sat on the side with the baby.”

Aguilar said Helen Lynch didn’t work.

“She was just home all the time, she was like Susie Homemaker,” Aguilar said. “She was real quiet, but she was a real nice person when you talked to her.”

Gloria Jaramillo, chairwoman of grounds and security for the complex, said Lynch came to the 7 p.m. board of directors meeting Monday between 8:30 and 9 p.m. and left about 10 p.m. Stan Taylor, board president, said: “Everything seemed normal. He was there and there didn’t seem to be any problems.”

About 2 hours later Jaramillo and several others in the complex saw police cars arrive and saw paramedics carry out the baby. She was taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana.

“She just looked like a little rag doll,” Jaramillo said. Police then led Lynch out of the apartment in handcuffs. He wore only a blanket around his waist, Jaramillo said.

Times staff writer Lucille Renwick contributed to this story.