More than six weeks after the 86-year-old wife of a former Los Angeles Superior Court judge was found slain in her home in the affluent Windsor Square neighborhood, Los Angeles police on Thursday asked for help in the case.
Detectives had few leads in the killing of Antonia Maria Yager, who was found dead of apparent multiple stab wounds at her home in the 100 block of North Beachwood Drive on Dec. 22.
An employee at the home found Yager’s body. The victim had been dropped off by a friend following a charity dinner at the Wilshire Country Club the previous evening, police said.
There was evidence she woke up Dec. 22 morning and had breakfast, Detective Kevin Pierce said at a new conference announcing a $50,000 reward in the case.
She was the widow of retired Judge Thomas C. Yager, who died in 2008 at age 90.
Antonia “Toni” Yager came to the United States from Holland after World War II and worked as a nurse. She became a devoted wife and philanthropist and was active in the Larchmont community, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
“We’re baffled,” said friend John Franklin. “She was the nicest lady in the world. This should happen to nobody. … To die that way is just despicable.”
L.A. City Councilman Tom LaBonge has sponsored a $50,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of Antonia Yager’s killer or killers, according to police.
Anyone in the area of First Street, Beachwood Drive and Gower Street between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Dec. 22 was asked to call West Bureau homicide detectives at 213-382-9470.