‘I Thought He Was Beating Her Up'

A witness to the stabbing death of a Northern California woman in an Oceanside shopping center parking lot on April 3rd haltingly described the attack in courtroom testimony Tuesday.

Lincoln, Calif, resident Katherine Parker, 54, was vacationing with her husband in Oceanside when she was slain coming out of a card store where she had purchased gifts for her grandchildren. Her husband was not with her at the time.

Christine Loreta Moring, seemingly struggling to control her emotions, told the court that Eric Andreasen, 37, had approached her and scared her away before grabbing Parker from behind.

"His left hand was holding her up, and his right hand was going up and down," Moring testified at Andreasen's preliminary hearing in North County Superior Court. "At the time, I thought he was beating her up."

Moring said she saw the attack from her car after backing up to get away from Andreasen. She told the court she drove closer and saw that Parker's head "was bent over to the side, and she didn't look like she was conscious.... [Parker's body] was very limp."

Moring testified she then saw Andreasen throw a knife up in the air, kneel down and spread himself out prone on the pavement.

Parker, she said, "was just laying down on the ground and never moved."

At that point, Moring called 911.

Responding police officers took Andreasen into custody without incident.

Court documents list a lengthy criminal record for Andreasen, a sex offender who also has a history of psychiatric treatment and had been prescribed medications used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

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