Suspect Sought in Slaying of Saugus Woman

Police were searching Saturday for the suspected killer of a 38-year-old Saugus woman who was shot to death in her home Friday afternoon, the first homicide in the Santa Clarita Valley in more than a year, authorities said.

Officials are looking for Mark Bowersock, 38, the ex-boyfriend of the slain woman, Laurel Prejean, said Sgt. Ron Spear of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Prejean is survived by an undisclosed number of children. She died in a house she shared with her sister after being shot during a telephone conversation with a counselor, authorities said.

The counselor heard Prejean scream just before 3 p.m., realized the line had gone dead and called 911, authorities said.

Investigators pronounced Prejean dead at the house in the 27000 block of Seco Canyon Road and said she was slain by a single shot to the chest. Deputies said the bullet came from a medium-caliber handgun.

Prejean’s silver 1988 Hyundai sedan was missing from her driveway and authorities believe it was stolen by Bowersock. The car, license plate 2GRX644, has a sunroof and a Harley-Davidson sticker in the rear window.

Bowersock is white, about 6 feet tall, 200 pounds, with brown hair and eyes, Spear said.