Playground Menace Faces Charges

A woman accused of placing razor blades and other sharp objects at Orange County playgrounds tipped police to the targets with telephone calls and letters, investigators said.

Lori Elizabeth Fischer was expected to be arraigned Thursday on charges of felony child endangerment and assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly placing sharp objects at 10 parks since April 27.

Fischer, 21, meticulously documented the deeds in journals and called police several times with the locations of targeted parks, said Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona. Investigators believe she also left four letters in May on a popular beach playground that threatened more such attacks, he said.

A day after Fischer's Tuesday arrest, a portrait emerged of a woman believed to suffer from a mental illness, possibly multiple personality disorder, authorities said.

"There is more to Ms. Fischer than just being a criminal," Carona told a news conference. "Her journals give us a pretty good idea of what's going on inside her."

A poem in one of the journals seized by authorities read: "More hazards are found/Nails, razor blades, broken glass/The innocence is shattered/Yellow police tape encircles/The once peaceful haven."

The poem asks: "Who would do it, who would hurt an innocent?"

Carona said the journals also contained "very impressive" detail about razor blade incidents.

"We are reading every word of every page," he said.

A telephone call to Fischer's Mission Viejo home, where she lived with her parents, was not immediately returned.

Fischer allegedly called 911 after placing razor blades and nails at a Laguna Beach park in April, Laguna Beach Police Chief Jim Spreine said.

"She did not say she was going to do it, but that something was going to happen," he said.

Over the next month, Fischer allegedly made at least three similar calls to authorities, the last one a day before her arrest, Spreine said.

No injuries were reported, but the incidents prompted parents to keep their children away from play areas, and authorities began round-the-clock surveillance of some playgrounds.

Fischer was arrested after leaving a Mission Viejo playground where razor blades were later found, said Sgt. Jim Sewell, one of the case investigators.

For several years, authorities have been investigating similar incidents throughout Orange County. Carona said investigators were trying to determine if Fischer could be linked to any of those.