OCT 2021 Blues Vol 37 No. 10.1

87-year-old Riverside woman found dead in freezer
at home is former LA County Sheriff’s Detective.
By Ruby Gonzales
RIVERSIDE, CA. —The mystery
that was Miriam Travis’ life after
she retired as a Los Angeles
County sheriff’s homicide detective
and moved to Riverside more
than 30 years ago now extends
to her death.
Travis, 87, was found dead Sunday,
September 19, in a freezer
in the garage of the home where
she had lived since 1990. Her
live-in daughter, identified by
neighbors only as Carol, was
questioned and released while
detectives attempted to learn
how Travis died and what role,
if any, her daughter played in
either her demise or the handling
of her body.
Both mother and daughter
were noted for being obsessively
private.
“Shocking. Very shocking. Especially
because she’s little old
sweet Miriam,” said Randy Hayes,
63, who has lived next door to
the Travis home on New Ridge
Drive next to Sycamore Canyon
Park for 27 years.
A relative of Travis, Kerri Nickell
of Oklahoma, identified Travis
in a phone interview Monday.
The Riverside County Coroner’s
Office was not officially
announcing the dead woman’s
name Monday, a spokesman
said. Deputy Maria Lucero, an LA
County sheriff’s spokeswoman,
said Travis was a sergeant at the
homicide bureau from 1979 until
she retired in 1990.
Another relative had called
police Sunday, asking officers to
check on the woman, said Officer
Javier Cabrera, a Riverside
police spokesman. Officers went
to the home in the Mission Grove
neighborhood at about 9:35 a.m.
They questioned the daughter,
whose statements on the whereabouts
of Travis were inconsistent,
Cabrera said.
Officers searched the house,
which Cabrera described as
“disheveled,” with hoarding-like
conditions and trash piled high.
There was a foul odor, and officers
eventually discovered Travis
in a working freezer in the garage.
Her body had not decomposed,
Cabrera said. An autopsy
is planned.
Nickell, who said she was
Travis’ step-granddaughter, said
Travis and her husband moved to
the Riverside home in 1990 after
her retirement.
Travis was a “great grandmother,”
Nickell said, taking Nickell
and her 11 cousins to Disneyland
every year at Christmas.
Travis’ husband died in 1992,
and suddenly Travis changed the
locks on the house and cut off
contact with extended family,
Nickell said.
“It was like this is my grandmother
one day, and then we
never heard from her again,” said
Nickell, who described Travis
and the daughter as “kind of hermits.”
A cousin would sometimes
mail pictures of relatives on her
side of the family to Travis, but
there was never any response.
Hayes said that despite being
decades-long neighbors, he
knew little about Travis and her
daughter, such as whether they
ever traveled or had any hobbies.
“I cannot overstate enough
how reclusive they were,” he
said.
Hayes rarely saw service vehicles
come to the house except
for deliveries by Home Depot.
Storage units dotted the backyard
and changes to the property
drew the interest of city code
enforcement, he said. A wide,
wooden gate was erected to the
left of the garage and behind it,
a tarp could be seen Monday. An
awning, storage unit and individual
cinder blocks, some still
shrink-wrapped, filled part of
the driveway.
There was no discernible path
to the front door, which was
not visible from the street, and
the windows on the two-story,
2,650-square-foot-home were
covered.
Hayes would have brief conversations
with Travis over the
years, ones that became less and
less frequent. Travis, if she left
the house, would work in the
garden out front or quickly get in
a car and leave.
Travis appeared to be in failing
health, Hayes said. She was
stooped and was moving slower
and slower. Hayes said he last
saw Travis in November.
Cedric Valentin, 63, who landscaped
Hayes’ home, said he
would stop to talk with Travis
as well. He last saw her four
months ago.
About a month ago, he saw
Carol out in front of the house.
“I asked Carol, ‘Where’s Miriam?’
She said, ‘She’s in the
house.’ I didn’t think anything of
it. … It’s sad. Especially because
she’s little, sweet Miriam. She’s
in my heart, you know?” Valentin
said.
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