Victim in Rancho Cordova homicide identified; boyfriend now faces murder charge
A woman who was found dead earlier this week at a home in eastern Rancho Cordova, the victim in an apparent homicide, has been identified by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office.
Jong Hee Park, 52, was discovered early Wednesday evening with trauma at a residence in the 3600 block of Manzanola Way and pronounced dead at the scene by deputies assigned to the Rancho Cordova Police Department, according to the Coroner’s Office and news releases by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.
Detectives on Thursday arrested 26-year-old Nicholas Brynelson, whom investigators believed was in a dating relationship with the victim, in connection with the homicide, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Brynelson was initially held Thursday at the Sacramento County jail on a charge of voluntary manslaughter, jail booking logs showed, but by Friday morning, the charge had been changed to murder.
Rancho Cordova deputies responded to the residence around 4:45 p.m. Wednesday after a man called authorities and reported that his girlfriend had been assaulted earlier that day, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Sgt. Tess Deterding said earlier this week.
The death has been investigated as a homicide from the outset, but authorities have not yet released a specific cause for Park’s death.
Brynelson remains in custody, ineligible for bail, and was set to appear Friday afternoon in Sacramento Superior Court.
