Detectives locate car belonging to El Dorado homicide victim in Sacramento

Detectives say the car belonging to a 60-year-old homicide victim was recently found in Sacramento after the woman was killed in her El Dorado home last month, according to a Facebook post Tuesday by the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office.

Helen Hoover (née McKinney) was found dead of apparent blunt force trauma the night of Dec. 18, and had reportedly not been in touch with friends or family members since Nov. 29, the sheriff’s office said in an earlier news release. Homicide investigators did not find signs of forced entry, but Hoover’s car was missing.

Tuesday’s post says the car - a white Nissan Z-series convertible - was unoccupied when found and is now being processed for evidence.

No other details regarding the vehicle’s recovery have been released. It was not immediately clear where in Sacramento the car was located.

El Dorado County sheriff’s officials also said in Tuesday’s Facebook post that it contacted the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada regarding Hoover’s case and a possible link to two recent homicides in that jurisdiction. However, it was determined that the cases are not connected.