Kaj Bartholdy Hansen, 79

Kaj Bartholdy Hansen, a 79-year-old white man, was pronounced dead on June 18, 2004, after he was beaten and stabbed in the 6100 block of Linden Avenue in Long Beach, according to Orange County coroner and Los Angeles County Superior Court records. 

Hansen was a landlord,  and on June 17, 2004, he entered the Long Beach apartment of a couple he was trying to evict with the intention of changing the locks, according to court records. 

One of the tenants, James Doherty, 54, attacked Hansen inside the apartment, beating and stabbing the landlord and kicking him in the head, according to court records. 

Police were called to the scene after Hansen’s wife went looking for her husband at the apartment and found a bloody trail leading to an alleyway, The Times reported. 

Doherty was arrested June 20, 2004, and charged with murder in Hansen’s death. According to court records, Doherty testified that he wrapped Hansen’s body in a rug and dumped his body in Irvine the night of the slaying.

Two men flying model airplanes found Hansen’s body in a field north of Laguna Canyon Road and east of Sand Canyon Avenue in Irvine on June 18, The Times reported. 

Hansen was pronounced dead at 11:50 a.m., according to Orange County coroner’s records. The cause of death was listed as a cerebral hemorrhage and edema due to skull fracture and blunt force trauma. The coroner also noted multiple stab wounds to the back and multiple rib fractures as significant contributing factors to Hansen’s death.

Doherty was convicted Aug. 30, 2007, of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, according to court records. 

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.