In the early morning of October 29, 1972, Marla Hires, 23, of Stanton, left her house in her blue 1971 Mazda RX2 two-door sedan.  She was wearing a purple blouse, brown flare pants, and a pair of brown heels to match her brown purse.  This Stanton mother of a 2-year-old got up before sunrise, as she often did, to do extra work as a claims adjuster at Southern California Edison in Rosemead.  Mrs. Hires was reported missing by her parents and her husband that night. 

Mrs. Hires’ lifeless body was found on the side of Imperial Highway near Kellogg Drive in Yorba Linda the next morning.  She had been raped and strangled, and her body had been wrapped up in old pieces of drapery and carpet before being tossed down an embankment.   Her car was dumped at a Sumitomo bank in Stanton.

At the time of the murder, the DNA technology used to later solve the crime did not exist.  The FBI did not conduct forensic DNA analysis until 1988.  Orange County did not conduct forensic DNA analysis until the early 1990s.  The Orange County Sheriff’s Department investigated and put together the cold case through DNA evidence which was linked to the defendant, who was in prison in Ohio for murdering another young woman named Joanna Boughner. 

Edwin Dean Richardson was charged with Mrs. Hires’ murder on November 30, 2004 by the Orange County District Attorney’s office and pleaded guilty in December 2006 to the 1972 murder of the Stanton wife and mother.