Former Miss Williamston pageant winner murdered in CA

(Napa County, California) Nov. 5, 2004 - Police in Napa County, California, say a former Miss South Carolina pageant contestant and her roommate were killed in their apartment in West Napa early Monday morning.

Napa Police say 26-year-old Leslie Ann Mazzara and her roommate, 26-year-old Adriane Michelle Insogna, were found dead near their upstairs bedrooms by their third roommate, who police say was downstairs when she heard screams and a scuffle and then heard someone run from the house.

A northern California newspaper reports Napa Police Commander Andy Lewis said both women were stabbed to death and their home showed signs of forced entry.

The paper says Mazzara moved to California in the last six months from South Carolina, where she won the Miss Williamston Scholarship Pageant in 2002. She worked at the Neibaum-Coppola Winery as a sales promoter.

Miss Williamston Pageant Director Danette Hanks said, "She was sweet, kind, energetic, a vibrant person. Everybody loved her. Everybody who knew her loved her. I don't understand at all how anyone could have wanted to hurt her." The newspaper said Mazzara was a 2003 graduate of the University of Georgia.

A web site run by Hanks says Mazarra was a native of Anderson and a graduate of Belton-Honea Path High School.

Insogna was a Napa County sanitation district engineer, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The third roommate is considered a witness, and police are protecting her identity. And, Andrew Lewis of the Napa Police say investigators are still trying establish who the women were with in the last days of their lives, "To hopefully give us some clue to determine whether or not the suspect in this case knew the victims or whether or not this is a stranger intruder."

posted 7:45am by Chris Rees