The maid who discovered the bodies of victims in the Sharon Tate murder case has been living in virtual seclusion in the Los Angeles area for nearly four weeks, police revealed Wednesday.

Earlier, Mrs. Winifred Chapman, 55, had been the object of a widespread search after detectives discovered that she had not been seen since Oct. 10.

“Our only interest in finding her,” a police spokesman said after she was located, “was to assure ourselves of her well-being and security. Her disappearance had caused considerable concern.”

Apprehension over Mrs. Chapman’s safety was considerably supported by the fact that all of her personal belongings had been left in her South-Central Los Angeles apartment when she departed.

Her landlady, Mamie White, reported her missing Oct. 13, saying Mrs. Chapman had been gone for three days.

She told police the woman seemed “terribly upset” during the weeks before she disappeared.

Officers who talked to Mrs. Chapman Wednesday said she told them she left because she wanted to avoid further publicity in connection with the bizarre murders.

They said she told them that various representatives of news media had been “pestering” her and she wanted to “shut the whole thing out” of her mind.

A sister in Denver had expressed concern about her, saying Mrs. Chapman “feared for her life.”

But Mrs. Chapman said this was probably because she had failed to contact her as had been her regular habit.

Mrs. Chapman’s involvement in the murder case began Aug. 9. when she went to work at the estate of Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate in Benedict Canyon.

It was she who ran screaming to the home of a neighbor, saying there were “bodies and blood all over the place.” Police found Miss Tate, another woman and three men stabbed and shot to death.

Mrs. Chapman was treated for shock at UCLA Medical Center.

By TOM NEWTON