A motel employee found a woman unresponsive inside a bathroom at the Kona Inn Motel on North Brookhurst Street in Anaheim after she failed to check out around 11 a.m. Officers were called to the scene around 12:50 p.m., and Anaheim homicide detectives are now trying to determine how she died.
According to NBC Los Angeles, the employee entered the room after knocking and getting no response, then discovered the woman inside the bathroom. Police say she was the only person who had checked into the room. Anaheim police spokesperson Eric Anderson said investigators did not yet know whether the case is a homicide investigation or whether the apparent signs point to a self-inflicted death.
Detectives Canvass The Neighborhood For Clues
Homicide detectives investigated the scene and canvassed the surrounding neighborhood for witnesses or physical evidence, per the same NBC Los Angeles report. Police have not released the woman's identity. Under California Government Code rules governing law enforcement records, the Orange County Coroner's Division typically withholds identifying an unattended-death victim until next of kin have been formally notified, according to Buena Park Police Department General Orders.
Because the death happened outside a hospital setting, it falls under mandatory review by county forensic authorities. State law and Orange County policy require that all unnatural, unexpected, or unattended deaths be independently investigated by the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner's Division to determine an official cause and manner of death, meaning coroner deputies work alongside Anaheim police detectives as the case moves forward.
A Motel With A Violent Recent History
The 26-room Kona Inn Motel sits at 331 North Brookhurst Street, roughly 2.9 miles northwest of Disneyland Park, according to property listings cited in the research record. The budget lodging property has drawn major police responses before. In April 2025, Anaheim police responded to a shooting inside a Kona Inn room that left a victim wounded, touching off a multi-city pursuit that ended with officers fatally shooting the fleeing suspect in Santa Ana, as reported by CBS News.
The property also has a history with city hall. In late 2021, the Anaheim Housing Authority tried to buy the motel with state funds to convert it into affordable housing, but the city and the owner could not agree on a price, according to Voice of OC. When those talks fell apart in 2022, Anaheim redirected the funding to buy the Tampico Motel on State College Boulevard for $5.5 million instead, converting that blighted property into affordable housing to cut down on police calls, per the Los Angeles Times.
Part Of A Broader Pattern Along Anaheim's Motel Corridors
Anaheim's older motels along corridors like Brookhurst Street have long been flagged by the city as disproportionate sources of police calls, and this is not the first unresponsive-occupant case Anaheim homicide detectives have handled at a local lodging facility this year. In May, detectives launched a death investigation after finding two men dead inside a room at the Hotel Pepper Tree on West Lincoln Avenue following a family-requested welfare check, a case Hoodline previously covered.
Regional reporting shows many of these motel death cases involve transient residents or cohabitants living in extended-stay arrangements. In March, a woman was charged with killing her husband inside a separate Anaheim motel room, according to MyNewsLA. Anaheim police reported a 52.2% clearance rate for violent crime cases in fiscal year 2024-2025, having investigated more than 2,000 reported cases citywide, per city budget filings.
Investigators are still working to determine the cause and circumstances of the woman's death at the Kona Inn. Authorities are asking anyone with information to contact Anaheim police or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
