Laguna Beach detectives are searching a home in Laguna Terrace after they found a woman decapitated inside.

Friends identify the woman as Megan Hampton, she’s in her 60’s. At about 10:30 a.m. Sunday, friends were picking her up for church at her home as they traditionally do, but this time she wasn’t answering her gate.

Neighbor Danielle Cott says Hampton’s son, who is in his 30’s came outside.

“While they were asking him, he seemed very nervous and just ran out of the house, jumped into his mother’s car and took off,” says Cott.

Her friends saw Hampton’s mastiff covered in blood and rushed inside.

Related: Investigation underway after woman found dead at Laguna Terrace Mobile Park


“They walked into the mother’s bedroom who was all dressed and ready to go to church and walked into a horrific crime scene,” recalls Cott.

About an hour later, Orange County Sheriff’s deputies located him driving his mom’s car and detained him.

Neighbors would frequently see her son bike riding around Laguna Terrace. “Clearly, he was troubled. He was antisocial, but nobody saw the violence,” says Cott.

Hampton was listed in the Interior Designers Guild. Friends describe her as a really good person who loved dogs. “She was a nice lady. She was probably doing the best she could,” says Cott. “She had lost her husband about six years ago and she had just retired.”

Hampton was a leader who cared about improving the neighborhood. “She spent a lot of time trying to make it a better place for all of us to live,” says neighbor Jeff Feldman.

