Accountant Found Dead in West Valley Apartment

West Valley detectives were trying to determine Wednesday whether a 39-year-old accountant found dead in his Woodland Hills apartment was slain.

The man was identified as Kyle Jonathan Frieze, said Det. Rick Swanston of the West Valley Division.

A security guard discovered Frieze’s body about 4 p.m. Tuesday after co-workers called the apartment complex when Frieze didn’t show up for work, Los Angeles Police Officer Esther Myape said. Detectives would say only that Frieze had suffered severe trauma.

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office received the case as a reported homicide, spokesman Craig Harvey said.

Neighbors in the Oakwood Apartments in the 22100 block of Erwin Street said Frieze was so quiet that some thought the apartment was vacant.

“This is really a quiet and safe place to live,” said Don Reid, a financial planner who lives next door in the complex, which provides temporary housing for corporate clients. “You can hear people walking around and closing their doors, but his apartment was always quiet.”

But Reid said he heard “suspicious” noises coming from his neighbor’s apartment between 10:30 and 11 Monday night.

“These were sounds I never heard before,” Reid said. “It was like someone was banging up against the wall. Almost sounded like someone was moving furniture.”

Reid speculated that Frieze knew whomever was in the apartment because there were no sounds of anyone breaking in and he didn’t hear any screams or cries for help.