Body found in Golden Gate Park
may be missing woman

By Tamara Barak and Angela Hokanson, Bay City News Service

April 6, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - San Francisco police have confirmed they are working with detectives from San Bruno, South San Francisco and Richmond in their investigation into the body of an unidentified woman that was discovered yesterday afternoon near Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park.

Detectives are trying to determine whether the body is that of missing South San Francisco woman Sophia Sciutto-Creps, according to San Francisco police Officer Maria Oropeza.

The body was discovered on the side of Stow Lake closest to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive by a gardener working in the area. Police received a call about the body around 3 p.m., Oropeza said.

According to Oropeza, the cause of death of the victim is unknown at this time, but police are treating the death as "suspicious.''

Sciutto-Creps, 27, was last seen with her friend Kimberly Millen of San Bruno, who was later found murdered. Sciutto-Creps green Honda Civic is also missing.

Millen's body was found Saturday afternoon in a grassy area near the dead end of South 25th Street in Richmond. Police say it appears she was murdered elsewhere and her body dumped in Richmond.

Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan said Millen, 21, died of blunt trauma and multiple stab wounds. Her killer has not been apprehended.

According to Gagan, Millen's mother reported her as missing to San Bruno police on Monday, March 27. Sciutto-Creps' husband filed a missing persons report about his wife with South San Francisco police on Thursday, March 30, Gagan said.

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