Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Former Lake Elsinore City Councilman Found Dead; Homicide Investigation Underway

George Alongi was found dead Friday.

6:49 p.m.: The story below has been updated with additional information from police.

Lake Elsinore resident George Alongi, who once served as a council member for his city, has been found dead.

Sgt. Myling Bordeau of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department confirmed Alongi’s death and said a homicide investigation is underway.

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Deputies were called to the Alongi home in the 1000 block of Dolly Way shortly after 5:30 p.m. Friday. When they arrived, they found Alongi, 77, who had sustained "traumatic injury to his body," said Sgt. Jeff Buompensiero of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

"Emergency medical personnel were summoned to the scene to render aid, however, the victim was pronounced deceased at the scene," the sergeant said.

Find out what's happening in Lake Elsinore-Wildomarwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Buompensiero said a cause of death "will not be released at this time" and an autopsy is scheduled for Monday.

All was quiet Saturday afternoon along the residential street where Alongi lived.

Manuel Cesena lives across the street from the single-story Alongi home. Police had taped the residence off through the night and they didn’t leave until sometime after 9:30 a.m. Saturday, he said.

“There were a lot of police everywhere,” he said.

Cesena said he saw or heard nothing out of the ordinary at the Alongi home where the deceased allegedly lived with his wife, Grace.

According to some residents, police were questioning neighbors asking if they had seen anything. There are unconfirmed reports that one person was taken into custody.

None of the neighbors Patch spoke with said they knew the Alongis well but said police had been to the residence in the past.

According to a Nov. 2009 Press-Enterprise article, Alongi was removed from the Lake Elsinore City Council in 1999 after a jury found that “he had failed to adequately disclose properties he owned in the city's redevelopment area while continuing to vote on redevelopment matters.”

Patch will continue to update this story as information becomes available.


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