Missing Woman’s Body Identified

A corpse pulled from the California Aqueduct was positively identified Thursday as that of a 34-year-old woman who had been missing since early Sunday, authorities said.

Fingerprints showed that the body belongs to Renee Elizabeth Mullins, who was a public relations specialist for an Antelope Valley orthodontist’s office, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Debra Glaskides.

An autopsy was scheduled for today to determine the cause of death for the woman who had recently left her husband of 14 years, according to co-workers and sheriff’s detectives. Glaskides said it was premature to rule the death a homicide, and no arrests were made Thursday.

The dead woman’s husband, Scott Mullins, could not be reached for comment.

Renee Mullins had been popular in the Antelope Valley, in part for a series of radio ads she did for Snow Orthodontics in Palmdale, deputies and co-workers said.

Her body was discovered caught in an aqueduct gate on Wednesday, three days after neighbors reported hearing an early morning scuffle at her apartment and sheriff’s deputies found the place in disarray.

Co-workers later said she had recently moved to apartment No. 13 at 43343 16th St. W. from the home she shared in Rosamond with her husband and a 5-year-old daughter. She had also told her employer and co-workers that she was in the process of seeking a restraining order against her husband, although no court records of such a protective order could be found Thursday.