BODY FOUND IN SANTA PAULA PARK.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer

Jose Manzo, who loved tending to his flower garden and playing with his two grandchildren, became this city's first homicide victim of the year.

The body of Jose Trinidad Lopez Manzo, 52, was discovered in a newly renovated neighborhood park Tuesday, two days after he was reported missing from his Orchard Street home.

Manzo's body was found at 9:46 p.m. Tuesday in a steep, wooded area of Mill Park, in the 800 block of Ojai Road. An autopsy Wednesday showed he died of blunt-force head injuries, officials said.

``It doesn't appear he was transported there. It's really precarious where he was found,'' said Sgt. Carlos Juarez, noting the area was off the beaten path of parkgoers.

``It doesn't appear robbery was a motive,'' he said. ``He did have property on him. We don't know the motive at this point.''

The police are asking the public for help in identifying a man seen walking with Manzo toward Mill Park on Sunday, Juarez said. The man is described as a tall, thin, light-skinned Latino in his early to mid-20s, with light to medium brown hair, which might have been in a ponytail.

``Our interest is to determine if this person is a suspect, a victim or a witness,'' Juarez said. ``I've spoken to the family, and they don't really know (who the man is) but they suspect it's someone in the neighborhood.''

Anyone with information is asked to call police at [phone], Ext. 1.

There were four homicides last year in Santa Paula, a city of 27,100. The last was in June 1998, when a woman was shot to death in the market she and her husband owned.

Manzo left his home Sunday afternoon without saying where he was going, said Jenny Arana, 26, the oldest of the victim's four children. Her mother, Gloria, was too upset to talk.

Arana said her father, who worked as a laborer, was born in Mexico but lived in the Santa Paula area most of his life.

``He was sweet to my kids,'' said Arana, who has a 5-year-old son and a daughter. ``He would give them everything they wanted. My daughter is 6 months old, and he was just crazy about her.''

Arana has fond memories of her father, whom she said was just a ``normal dad.''

``He would take us out to eat every weekend, mostly to McDonald's,'' she said. ``Just me and my brothers and sister, and him.''

Manzo spent his spare time cultivating roses, his favorite flower, Arana said.

``He was a nice person, never did anything to anybody,'' she said. ``He didn't deserve what he got.''

Funeral arrangements are pending.

``We are still in shock,'' Arana said. ``It hasn't really sunk in yet.

``I'm actually just thinking maybe he might come in the door.''