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SANTA ANA (CNS) - A 55-year-old man was charged today with beating his girlfriend to death in Garden Grove.
Manuel Martin Veerman of Garden Grove was charged with one count of murder. Veerman is accused of killing 55-year-old Laura Spoonamore of Garden Grove, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Coroner's Department.
Officers were called at 2:47 p.m. Saturday to a home in the 13600 block of Glenhaven Drive regarding a woman ``in distress,'' police said.
As officers were responding, the caller said someone was dead in the home, police said.
Officers found the woman in the home's living room suffering ``major trauma to her face and head.'' Spoonamore was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police tracked down Veerman a short time later in the area of Garden Grove Boulevard and Nelson Street, authorities said.
Witnesses told police Veerman and Spoonamore were arguing in the home before he left, and one of those witnesses went into the residence to check on her, finding she was unresponsive and called police. The defendant and victim had been in a long-term dating relationship, police said.