Two Women Slain In Tacoma

The bodies of two elderly women who were beaten and killed in a small house have been identified by authorities.

Mildred Pirie, 91, and Blanch Titus, 77, were found dead Tuesday morning at Pirie’s home on the east side of Tacoma, said officer Corina Hopkins of Tacoma police.

The women, close friends for more than 30 years, were slain late Monday or early Tuesday, Hopkins said.

That was three days after another woman, Yoshiko Couch, 65, was found dead at her home two miles away. An autopsy showed Couch died of asphyxiation.

There was no apparent link between the killings but detectives have not ruled out that possibility, Hopkins said.

A nephew, Bob Pirie, discovered the bound and bruised bodies of the two women when he went to visit his aunt Tuesday morning.

Pirie said he found the front door locked and the back door unlocked. The small, one-story house had been “completely ransacked,” he said, but he did not notice anything missing. Pirie added that nothing but the TV was worth stealing.

Titus lived three or four houses away, often cooked for her older friend and frequently spent the night, neighbors said.