Memorial Removed From Mall Parking Lot

More than a week after a stranger with a history of mental illness stabbed a tourist to death in a shopping center parking lot, the only obvious reminder of the death Saturday was a small spray of flowers someone left behind in a water bottle, the North County Times reported.

A more elaborate memorial with balloons, a cross and roses stood a day earlier next to the parking spot where police say Eric Russell Andreasen, 37, slashed Katherine Parker, 57, with a kitchen knife. But someone apparently dismantled the display.

Police are still asking that anyone who had any contact with Andreasen on April 3 to call them, Oceanside police spokesman Sgt. Kelan Poorman said. He said although Andreasen was waiting in the parking lot for police when they arrived, he had so far refused to cooperate with investigators.

Andreasen has a long history of crime and mental illness, court records show. He had been out of prison for only about two weeks before his arrest on suspicion of murder.

Oceanside police detectives are asking anyone who may have seen the crime or Andreasen in the area before the crime to call Detective Bill Weese at (760) 435-4875.
 

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