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Signe Margit (via Costa Mesa PD)
Signe Margit (via Costa Mesa PD) In December 2009, Signe Margit met a woman at Mile Square Regional Park in Fountain Valley. Margit, a homeless woman who spent time at the park, was given permission by the woman, a Costa Mesa real estate agent, to sleep in the woman's car--a sedan that belonged to her father, explains the LA Times. Around that time, Margit's family reported the 59-year-old missing.However some time later, Margit passed away, but the woman chose not to report the death. Rather, she drove around with the decomposing, and ultimately mummified, corpse in her passenger seat for ten months.
Following the police's discovery of Margit's body, investigators have worked to piece together not only the bizarre circumstances of the case, but also Margit's past.
"Family members told detectives that Margit held two master's degrees," notes the Times. "In 2001, she was issued a pre-intern teaching certificate for cross-cultural, language and academic development emphasis in California, according to records."
In the ensuing years, Margit's addresses and jobs were scattered around California, Washington, and Texas, and it appears she encountered serious money problems before returning to the L.A. area. "Costa Mesa police Sgt. Ed Everett said she was working in a job he declined to identify in Los Angeles County for three years until she was let go in August 2009."
Authorities believe Margit's death was not "the result of foul play," though further report results are pending. They credit the public in coming forward with info about the troubled woman with the unusual first name to help them uncover the identity of Margit.
Fentanyl and other drugs fuel record deaths among people experiencing homelessness in L.A. County. From 2019 to 2021, deaths jumped 70% to more than 2,200 in a single year.
