Police: 2 Dead at Beverly Hilton in Murder-Suicide

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Two people have been found dead in what investigators believe was a murder-suicide at the Beverly Hilton, just hours before the Daytime Emmy Awards are being held at the posh hotel, police said Saturday.

Police responding to a report of a shooting late Friday found a man and a woman dead from gunshot wounds in a hotel room, Beverly Hills police Lt. Mark Rosen said.



Police would give no other details on the two people, their relationship, or the circumstances of the shooting. Police would not comment on whether the deaths were connected to the Emmy awards.



Coroner's officials had yet to begin their investigation, but said they were a man in his late 60s and a woman in her mid-50s.



The luxury hotel was also the site of Whitney Houston's death in February. The singer drowned in the bathtub of her fourth-floor room, just a few hours before she was to attend record executive Clive Davis' annual pre-Grammy party in the ballroom downstairs.



An HLN spokeswoman, Alison Rudnick, said the 39th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards will go on as scheduled. The cable news channel will be broadcasting live the ceremony, which honors the best in soap operas and talk shows.



The hotel also hosts several other annual galas, including the Golden Globe Awards.



Before the Friday shootings, Beverly Hills had just six homicides since 2008. Such rare cases usually draw national attention, as in the death of a Hollywood publicist who was shot while she was driving after a movie premiere in November 2010. Police say Ronni Chasen was killed in an apparent bungled robbery by a career criminal who later killed himself when approached by police.



..

Convicted Calif. Serial Killer Pleads Not Guilty to 2 Women’s NYC Murders in 1970s

NEW YORK — A convicted California serial killer pleaded not guilty Thursday to murdering two women in New York City in the 1970s, charges lodged just last year after suspicion swirled around him for decades.

Rodney Alcala, a former dating-show contestant who has spent the last 33 years tangling with authorities in a series of trials and overturned convictions, was arraigned Thursday in the deaths of Cornelia Crilley and Ellen Hover.

Hands and feet shackled, Alcala looked thin and drawn as he said only “not guilty” in a steady voice. He wore an orange jail jumpsuit and long gray hair in ponytail.




He was ordered held without bail and is due back in court Oct. 30.

A former photographer with an IQ said to top 160, Alcala was convicted in 2010 of killing four women and a 12-year-old girl in Southern California in the 1970s. He represented himself, offering a defense that involved showing a clip of his 1978 appearance on “The Dating Game” and playing Arlo Guthrie’s classic 1967 song “Alice’s Restaurant.”



While appealing his death sentence in California, Alcala was indicted last year in New York, partly on evidence that emerged during his California trial, prosecutors said. He was brought to New York on Wednesday on a U.S. Marshals Service plane unsuccessfully fighting his extradition to New York.



Crilley was found strangled with a stocking in her Manhattan apartment in 1971. Hover, a comedy writer and former Hollywood nightclub owner’s daughter who had a degree in biology and was seeking a job as a researcher, was living in Manhattan when she vanished in 1977. Her remains were found the next year in the woods on a suburban estate. Both women were 23.



Alcala had been eyed in Hover’s death for decades and in Crilley’s killing for at least several years. New York Police Department detectives investigating her killing went to California in 2003 with a warrant to interview Alcala and get a dental impression from him.



A forensic dentist later found that a bite mark on Crilley’s body was consistent with Alcala’s impression, a law enforcement official has said. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.



The Manhattan district attorney’s cold-case unit also conducted new interviews with more than 100 witnesses.



“After more than three decades, the defendant will finally face the justice system in New York for the murder of two victims,” District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said. “Today’s arraignment brings us a step closer to obtaining justice for Ms. Crilley and Ms. Hover.”



Alcala has been behind bars since his 1979 arrest in one of the California killings. Before that arrest, he also served a prison sentence on convictions of furnishing marijuana to a minor and kidnapping and trying to kill an 8-year-old girl.



After his 2010 conviction, California authorities released more than 100 photos, found in his storage locker, of young women and girls. They said they were exploring whether Alcala could be tied to cases in New York and other states.

Cops: Parents Track Down Daughter's Pimp, Kill Him

Kind of reminds me of this story I just posted about...And this similar  f*cker got what he deserved too.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KTLA) -- A San Francisco couple is accused of allegedly tracking an alleged pimp across California before finally hunting him down and killing him.




Police say the couple, whose teenage daughter was allegedly being pimped by a 22-year old Compton man, shot him to death near Candlestick Park.

Attorneys for Barry Gilton and his longtime girlfriend, Lupe Mercado admit the couple tried to rescue their 17-year old daughter from Calvin Sneed, but say they didn't kill him.




On June 4, Sneed was in San Francisco, driving his Toyota Camry at 2 a.m., when someone shot him with a .40-caliber handgun.



Sneed, an alleged member of the Nutty Block Crips, crashed into a parked car and died a short time later at San Francisco General Hospital.



Authorities believe the pair were also responsible for a shooting last month when someone fired into Sneed's car in North Hollywood.



Gilton and Mercado face charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and one count of discharging a firearm at an occupied vehicle.



Gilton was also charged with possession of a firearm as a felon.



Both are being held on $2 million bail.

____________________________

LET THEM GO HOME!

Lover of Ex-NFLer from Greenwich Gets Life for Murder

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- A Southern California woman was sentenced to life in prison Friday for helping her lover, former NFL linebacker and one-time Greenwich resident Eric Naposki, murder her live-in millionaire boyfriend for financial gain nearly two decades ago.

Nanette Ann Packard, 46, was convicted of murder earlier this year in the cold case slaying of William Francis McLaughlin, who made his fortune in medical technologies and was shot dead in his kitchen in December 1994.

Packard was living with the much older McLaughlin when he was murdered, but the divorced mother of two was also dating Naposki, a former linebacker for the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts who worked as a bouncer at a nearby nightclub. He played college football at the University of Connecticut.

Packard convinced Naposki to kill McLaughlin, gave him a key to the victim's house and told him when he would be home, prosecutors said.



She stood to collect $1 million on a life insurance policy and receive $150,000 and free rent for a year at one of his homes if McLaughlin died, authorities said.

Packard ended up stealing at least $500,000 from McLaughlin's estate both before and after his death, Matt Murphy, deputy district attorney, said during trial.

She pleaded guilty to grand theft in 1996 and was sentenced to a year in jail, but the murder case went cold.

Investigators long suspected Packard and Naposki, however, and new technology to identify the weapon along with a new witness allowed prosecutors to file murder charges in 2009, prosecutors have said.

In May 20, 2009, Naposki was arrested near his Weaver Street home in Greenwich during a "high-risk" motor vehicle stop. Naposki was soon extradited to California to face the murder charge there.

McLaughlin's adult daughters spoke at the sentencing hearing Friday in Orange County Superior Court.

"The fact that you, Nanette, destroyed so many lives, including my Dad's, is vile. ... You had absolutely no right to take him from us for your own selfish reasons. He was incredibly good to you for four whole years," said daughter Kim McLaughlin Bayless.

Naposki, 45, was convicted of first-degree murder last July.

His sentencing has been postponed until Aug. 10.

This Day In History

Sep 18 1932
24-year-old starlet Peg Entwhistle dives head first from the letter "H" of the HOLLYWOODLAND sign in Los Angeles. She is the first person to commit suicide at the landmark.

Sep 18 1946
Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947 thus establishing the CIA.

Sep 18 1970
A sleeping Jimi Hendrix dies in London from of a barbiturate overdose when chunks of vomited food enter up in his lungs, causing him to choke.

This Day In History

Aug 29 1958

Michael Jackson born in Gary, Indiana.

...Coincidentally,

Aug 29 1996
California becomes the first state in the nation to require the surgical or chemical castration of persons who have committed two or more sexual assaults on minors.

Aug 29 2005
Category 3 storm Hurricane Katrina attacks the Gulf coast with 145-mph winds. Cities in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi are declared disaster areas. Parts of New Orleans are submerged, some residents are left to scramble to their rooftops awaiting rescue. News organizations report widespread panic and looting, crowds abandoned on elevated freeways, and rumors of rape in the Superdome.

(Amazing pictures here...)

This Day In History

Jun 17 1972
The "plumbers" break into Democratic National Committee Headquarters in the Watergate complex, in the course of what President Nixon will later describe as a "third rate burglary." In actuality, it is an attempt by the Republican Party to illegally wiretap the opposition.

Jun 17 1994
O.J. Simpson fails to turn himself in to the LAPD at a prearranged time and is later spotted in a white Ford Bronco on a Los Angeles expressway. After a low-speed pursuit through the freeways and streets of Brentwood, O.J. is finally arrested live on television in the driveway of his mansion. According to one of the defense attorneys who served on O.J.'s "Dream Team," Simpson tried to kill himself in the car, but the gun misfired. The Juice allegedly told him: "I pulled the trigger and it didn't go off."

This Day In History

Jun 14 1962
Albert DeSalvo murders Anna Slesersby by strangling her with the belt from her robe. She is only the first victim of "The Boston Strangler."

(To me he looks like Christopher from The Sopranos, lol)

Jun 14 1989
Zsa Zsa Gabor is arrested for slapping a Beverly Hills police officer and driving with an expired license. Afterwards Zsa Zsa complains to the press that the handling she received from the BHPD "was like Nazi Germany." Ultimately, Gabor is convicted and sentenced to 72 hours in jail.

Jun 14 1993
During a week-long Product Tampering scare, Pepsi-Cola suspends its advertising campaign after nationwide reports of customers discovering syringes in unopened cans of Diet Pepsi. In response, television host David Letterman suggests ten new slogans, including "200cc's of great taste" and "Every can inspected by Ray Charles" (the company's blind celebrity spokesman).

This Day In History

Jun 12 1978
David Berkowitz is sentenced to 365 consecutive years in prison without the possibility of parole. Berkowitz killed six New Yorkers between 1976 and 1977, known collectively as the Son of Sam murders.

Jun 12 1991
After 500 years of silence, Mount Pinatubo erupts, making an estimated 100,000 homeless and killing 300. Two U.S. military bases, Clark Air Force Base and Subic Bay Naval Base, are abandoned. The blast is ten times larger than the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980.

Jun 12 1994
Nicole Brown Simpson and her male friend Ronald Goldman are savagely murdered in front of Simpson's condominium complex in Brentwood, California. The most plausible suspect turns out to be Nicole's estranged husband O.J., who is arrested for the crime a month later.

This Day In History

May 6 1853
Ignoring signals, a train travels through an open drawbridge and into the Norwalk river in Connecticut, killing 46 passengers. The engineer and crew jumped clear, not warning the others of their fate.

May 6 1937
Zeppelin Hindenberg explodes at Lakehurst NJ, leaving 36 dead and others seriously burned. Official cause of the explosion is listed as "St. Elmo's Fire," although it probably also involved the flammable silver paint the Germans used to coat the thing.

Two-in-one-day:

May 6 1993
Disgruntled postal worker Mark Richard Hilburn (recently fired) enters the Dana Point, CA post office and shoots two former coworkers, killing one.

May 6 1993
Disgruntled 27-year veteran Lawrence Jasion enters the garage area of the Dearborn, Michigan post office and whips out a .38 revolver. He proceeds to kill mechanic Gary Montes and wound two other coworkers. Before anyone can react, Jasion then blows his brains out. The Dearborn office was infamous for its authoritarian policies.

L.A. Officials Receive Video of Men Sexually Assaulting Disabled Women

Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigators made a public appeal Thursday in seeking at least four men who were videotaped sexually assaulting at least 10 women who appear to be severely disabled, including women in a care home.

The video came from 11 DVDs that an anonymous tipster dropped off last March at the Sheriff's Department headquarters in Monterey Park, California, said Sgt. Dan Scott.

The video was shot by a security camera and a handheld camera, Scott told reporters at a news conference.

One segment shows a woman victim wearing a diaper while in a wheelchair, Scott said.

Several locations are depicted in the video, including at least one place that appears to be a residential care facility, authorities said. Authorities don't know when or where the sexual assaults occurred.

Sgt. Diane Hecht told CNN that detectives are "starting from scratch" in their inquiry.

"We have victims, and we just don't know if the assaults are continuing. We have four suspects, and we need the public's help to take them into custody as soon as possible," Hecht told CNN.

"This is extremely serious. These women are developmentally disabled. It's awful to take advantage of anyone, but especially someone who could not defend themselves," Hecht said.

The more than 100 hours of video shows a sequence of at least 10 women being sexually assaulted by at least eight men, and investigators were able to develop composite drawings of four of the suspects, authorities said.

"The extremely disturbing videos are not being released to the public, but photos from portions of the video are being released in an effort to identify some of the suspects and at least one room depicted," the Sheriff's Department said in a statement.

Detectives asked the tipster to call the anonymous Crime Stoppers communication system at 800-222-8477 and provide details on the video's origins. Investigators said members of the public can also call the special victim bureau's hot line at (866) 247-5877. Information can also be provided anonymously by texting the letters TIPLA plus your tip to CRIMES (274637) or by accessing the Crime Stoppers website at www.lacrimestoppers.org.

'Person of Interest' in Beverly Hills Case Died on Hollywood's Dark Side

Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Aspiring and retiring actors, struggling producers, hopeful musicians, low-income and disabled people fill the aging Hollywood apartment building where a "person of interest" in the Beverly Hills shooting death of celebrity publicist Ronni Chasen killed himself Wednesday.

The Harvey Apartments, a four-story former hotel, draws a diverse group because of its cheap rent, no deposit requirement, proximity to major film studios and a reputation for being roach-free, residents said.

"There's a lot of screaming goes on and hollering and the kind of ruckus you wouldn't find in the traditional apartment complex," said Eddie Burke, who moved in just two weeks ago.

Burke, who was the Tea Party candidate in Alaska's lieutenant governor's race this year, found the Harvey Apartments on the internet while looking for a place to stay while his son trains at a Hollywood gym to be a pro boxer.

If he had known about the neighborhood, he would not have rented here, Burke said.

"It's rough," he said. "The people here are diverse. It's really different from back home in Alaska."

But for $600 a month and with no deposit required, it was a tempting deal.

It also became a profitable arrangement for Burke, who made several thousand dollars Thursday selling a blurry photo of the lobby he took with his cell phone while investigators were still there.

The Santa Monica Boulevard location is just a block from Hollywood Forever cemetery, the final resting place for Rudolph Valentino, Cecil B. DeMille and many other show business icons.

Three blocks away is Paramount Studios, where major movies and television shows are produced.

While the iconic Hollywood sign is visible from the sidewalk, the neighborhood is better known for the darker side of Hollywood where tour buses don't go.

Musician Tommy Zazen moved in three months ago, leaving a $2,500 a month apartment in Venice Beach.

"I've been around the block," Zazen said. He moved to Los Angeles from Chicago nine years ago to pursue his recording career.

He has played his guitar with the Smashing Pumpkins and Red Hot Chili Peppers, he said, but lately his day job as a handy man has paid his bills.

He likes the Harvey Apartment management for keeping the building clean and roach-free, but Wednesday's shooting left him "a little bit scared."

"Time for me to pack my bags," Zazen said.

He did not know many of his neighbors or the man who killed himself in the lobby, he said.

"I'm a hermit," he said. "I stay to myself, in my apartment listening to music, writing my songs."

Terri Gilpin, who claims to be a cousin to "Frasier" actress Peri Gilpin, said she moved into Harvey Apartments because "the rent's pretty cheap and reasonable."

She does make it a point to know her neighbors, who she said include "retired actors and a few producers who are trying to get back on their feet."

Journalists covering the shooting have also gotten to know the residents. Dozens of them were stranded in a strip mall parking lot for several hours as police closed their apartment building for five hours after the shooting.

One man told reporters that the building had a problem with drug users and dealers who come back even after being evicted.

"They make keys to the lock so they can come in and out," he said.

He said the man who shot himself was "really moody all the time" and had been recently evicted, said the man, who was in a wheelchair. He then explained how he knew this.

"I found all this out," he said. "I'm the son of a war hero, my dad was in the CIA, for Air America, in Saigon, for 10 years and I'm, like, kind of smart."

The Harvey Apartments is the kind of place that could keep a journalist covering a mysterious murder busy chasing down stories.

Brittany Smith Found Alive

(CNN) -- A missing Virginia girl and her alleged abductor were panhandling outside a San Francisco supermarket when someone nearby spotted them on Friday and alerted law enforcement, police said.

Brittany Mae Smith, 12 -- for whom police have been searching since Monday -- was found Friday afternoon, as was 32-year-old Jeffrey Scott Easley.

Easley is a "very good suspect" in the murder of Tina Smith -- his girlfriend and Brittany's mother -- who was found dead at her Salem, Virginia, home last Monday, Roanoke County, Virginia, Police Chief Ray Lavinder said Saturday.

Easley and Brittany Smith left Virginia early last Saturday or late on Friday, December 3 -- the same day that the girl's mother was killed, according to Lavinder.

A surveillance video from December 3 shows the pair shopping for a blue domed tent at a Walmart in Salem, Virginia.

A similar tent was found within walking distance of the Safeway store in northern California, where a witness saw Easley and Brittany Smith on Friday. The tipster recognized the pair after watching broadcast report's about the case on HLN's "Nancy Grace."

Lavinder said Saturday that he believes the girl and her alleged abductor were asking for money and holding up a cardboard sign when they were spotted.

Police were called, and the two were found shortly thereafter outside the store, more than 2,300 miles from where the girl was reported missing four days earlier, Lavinder said Friday. Police in San Francisco contacted their counterparts in Virginia with the news.

San Francisco Police Officer Albie Esparza said Brittany was turned over to California's Child Protective Services division after she was found. She has no visible injuries, has been in touch with family members and should return soon to Virginia, according to Lavinder. Easley did not resist arrest, he added.

"It's a fantastic sense of relief, and I know in my heart that it's due to information that you folks put out," Lavinder said Friday, thanking the media. "It's a party atmosphere, believe me."

Authorities found Easley's car relatively early in the manhunt. Lavinder said Saturday that authorities had located a silver 2005 Dodge Neon four-door sedan with Virginia tags that belonged to Tina Smith in a parking lot adjacent to San Francisco International Airport.

He said he believed the two had driven across country together, but he did not know when they arrived in California.

Police issued an Amber Alert for Brittany on Monday after finding the body of Tina Smith, 41, after her co-workers called to express concern that she hadn't shown up for work. Authorities in Florida and Alabama followed suit in subsequent days and notices went out to law enforcement nationwide .

Until Friday, Lavinder said the last known sighting of Easley and Brittany Smith was in December in the Salem, Virginia, Walmart.

The chief said Saturday that four Roanoke County detectives were heading to San Francisco, to help bring back Brittany Smith and to deal with Easley. Lavinder said he hoped "to get information back from them in the next 24 hours," though the earliest Easley could be extradited to Virginia is Monday, when California courts are back in session.

He could head east relatively soon if he waived extradition, or the process could be delayed for weeks if he contested the return.

Prior to his arrest, Easley was wanted for credit card theft, credit card fraud and abduction. Lavinder said that, "we are concentrating most of our efforts ... on the homicide investigation."

The chief has said Easley met Tina Smith online this summer, then moved into the family home in October. Authorities said they do not know if the girl went willingly with Easley.

Back east, the girl's great aunt told HLN's Nancy Grace on Friday night that Brittany already had talked to her father, and that there was widespread relief and joy from Salem to South Boston, Virginia, where many relatives live.

"Everybody here is just elated," said Lois Choquette, who is the late Tina Smith's aunt. "It's been a terrible thing, but we are just so thankful."

L.A. Police Seek Public Help With Women's Photos in Grim Sleeper Case

-View the photographs released by the Los Angeles police.-

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Los Angeles authorities expanded their investigation into the Grim Sleeper serial killer case Thursday by asking for the public's help in identifying women in 180 photographs whose images were found in the suspect's home this summer.

Police are trying to determine if there are additional killings among the more than 100 women depicted in the photos.

Last July, 57-year-old Lonnie David Franklin Jr. was arrested and charged with 10 murders and one attempted murder dating back to 1985, and Los Angeles police spent hundreds of hours sifting through thousands of photographs, Polaroids and videotape found in Franklin's house.

The bodies of victims, many working as prostitutes, were all found in close proximity to each other in a neighborhood formerly known as South Central Los Angeles.

Franklin, a mechanic who once worked for the LAPD, was arrested in July after police say they matched his DNA with DNA left on some of the victims. Police were led to Franklin after his 28-year-old son got arrested and gave a DNA swab, authorities said.

Authorities said they narrowed down the confiscated images down to 180 photographs, some of them duplicates of the same women.

At a media conference attended by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief Charlie Beck, authorities said they had difficulty determining whether some of the women were alive or dead in the photos.

"We cannot tell," Beck said. "Obviously, as all of you can see, some of them are animated and some are not. It's impossible to tell by the photographs.

Robbery Homicide Detective Dennis Kilcoyne said police have a responsibility to try to determine the whereabouts of the women.

"These are clearly photos of women that Mr. Franklin had contact with," said Kilcoyne. "We have a responsibility to identify these women. They may be alive and well, but we need to be certain."

"If there's nothing we glean from this, we are able to fill in the timeline of Mr. Franklin's life, and that's one of our goals as well," Kilcoyne said.

He declined to talk about the context in which the women's images appeared.

"The lifestyle or the situation that these women are in would defeat our plea with the public," Kilcoyne said.

Police are not sure where the women in the images resided, because Franklin's movements throughout his life are not yet ascertained, authorities said.

"His travel habits are unknown to us," Kilcoyne said. "We believe he spent the majority of his life right here in the city of Los Angeles."

Former Food Network Chef Sentenced in Murder Plot

Los Angeles (CNN) -- The former host of the Food Network's "Calorie Commando" was sentenced Monday to nine years in a California prison after pleading no contest to soliciting two homeless men to kill his wife, Los Angeles Superior Court spokeswoman Elizabeth Martinez said.

Juan-Carlos Cruz's wife was also in court during the sentencing, Martinez said.

Fertility issues were at the center of the murder-for-hire plot, according to sources close to the couple.

Authorities alleged that Cruz offered the two homeless men $500 to kill his wife, Shiara Davila-Morales of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said.

Police in Santa Monica, California, set up a sting and videotaped Cruz arranging the murder with the two men, Davila-Morales said. Cruz even drove one of them to his apartment and showed him how to get into the secure building, she said.

Superior Court Judge H. Chester Horn Jr. ordered Cruz to pay $1,870 in restitution, Martinez said.

Cruz was also ordered to serve half of the nine years before he is eligible to be paroled, Martinez said.

No victim impact statement was ordered, the spokeswoman said.

Cruz's plea agreement called for the nine-year sentence, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said in late October after the plea was announced.

One count of attempted murder was dropped as part of the plea settlement, the prosecutor said at the time.

Two sources close to the couple, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, said their 20-year struggle to have a child overwhelmed them.

After spending a lot of money on unsuccessful fertility treatments, Cruz's wife, Jennifer Campbell, was "very depressed and talked about suicide," one source said.

The sources suggested that she may have wanted to end her life but that as a devout Roman Catholic, she believed suicide was a sin.

The failure to have a successful pregnancy was a "pretty overwhelming thing in their lives," the second source said.

The source closest to Campbell said she still loves her husband despite his arrest. The source would not comment on whether she was aware of the alleged planning before his arrest.

The source closest to Cruz, 48, said he was "nothing but a loving and devoted husband."

CNN was unable to talk Cruz or Campbell directly.

The criminal complaint accused Cruz of trying to hire David Carrington and David Walters -- homeless men who go by the street names Little Dave and Big Dave -- to murder Campbell. It was not immediately clear who was Little Dave and who was Big Dave.

The plan fell apart when one of the men informed Santa Monica police, Sgt. Jay Trisler said.

Little Dave told the celebrity news and gossip website TMZ that he was approached first by Cruz, who asked him to kill his wife for cash, and he told his friend Big Dave.

Big Dave said he told a Santa Monica police officer about the plot after he was arrested for loitering.

"We're very fortunate that we have a relationship and rapport with some of the homeless and that they were able to give us information," Trisler said.

Santa Monica police began their undercover investigation of Cruz on May 7, Trisler said. Cruz was arrested later that month at a dog park in the Cheviot Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, he said.

Big Dave and Little Dave got a place to stay while the investigation was under way. Santa Monica police put them in a hotel room to keep them out of sight, Big Dave said.

"They gave us two pizzas, a 12-pack of beer and a bottle of San Jose (tequila)," he said. "I love them."

Cruz, a Los Angeles resident, was an overweight pastry chef at the Hotel Bel Air until he changed his focus to promote low-calorie recipes.

He wrote "The Juan-Carlos Cruz Calorie Countdown Cookbook: A 5-Week Eating Strategy for Sustainable Weight Loss," published in 2007.

The Food Network issued a short statement in October saying Cruz "has not been under contract or associated with Food Network for a number of years."

INSIDE STORY: Clues to Why Melissa Huckaby Murdered an 8-Year-Old Girl

People.com(June 2010)- The day 8-year-old Sandra Cantu disappeared from a Tracy, Calif., mobile-home park, Melissa Huckaby sent a text message to the child's mother.

"Tell the police that I had something stolen today around 4 p.m.," Huckaby texted to Maria Chavez on March 27, 2009. "I don't know if that makes a difference or not."

That stolen item turned out to be an Eddie Bauer suitcase that contained Cantu’s body, the victim of a brutal sexual assault and murder.

The case horrified the Central California community, but even after Huckaby pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison, residents were at loss as to why the Sunday school teacher committed such a heinous crime against her own daughter's playmate.

Now, with thousands of pages of previously sealed documents released and the lifting of a gag order, authorities are offering a theory: The bizarre text message and Huckaby's subsequent strange behavior suggested she killed the child in an attempt to attract attention to herself.

A Theory for Motive
Such behavior has a name: Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome, a form of child abuse, in which a person harms somebody else, often children, for attention. The prosecutor in the case noted that Huckaby's daughter may also have fallen victim: the child had a history of being sick and in need of hospital care way too often.

"There were 20 or so times that Melissa cut herself, set fires, or verbally or psychologically attacked someone else, such as a roommate," says Deputy District Attorney Thomas Tesla. "And there was something like that going on here (after the murder), where she wanted to be the center of attention."

The text message was just one clue. Also, the day after Sandra disappeared, Huckaby was hysterical and hyperventilating as she went to police to say she had found a note on lined notebook paper.

Newly Revealed Evidence
The misspelled message stated Sandra's body was locked in a stolen suitcase thrown in water at Bacchetti and Whitehall roads. "I wonder if she wanted to be the one who solved the case by finding the note," Tesla suggests.

Investigators thought it unusual that a woman who reported losing a suitcase "should be the one woman out of everyone in this complex who should happen to find a note that reports that the stolen suitcase was used to hide the child's body," FBI Special Agent Michael Conrad would testify in the grand jury, according to transcripts.

During an April 6 search of Huckaby's home after the suitcase was recovered, FBI agents found a notebook with "Cute but psycho. Things will even out" printed on the cover. On the pages they found indentations matching the letters from the note.

"It didn’t take an FBI expert to figure this out," Tesla says. "She has a distinctive way of writing certain letters. You can compare it to her known handwriting… and tell as a layperson that they’re written by the same person."

When confronted with the mounting evidence, court documents show, Huckaby offered a confession of sorts, saying that Cantu hid in the suitcase in Huckaby’s trailer as part of a game, but stayed inside too long and suffocated. Huckaby also offered a soft version of the events at her sentencing, saying Sandra "didn't suffer. I didn't sexually molest her."

But, Tesla contends, forensic evidence offers a grimmer version of the crime: Huckaby took Cantu to her grandfather’s nearby church, sexually molested her with a rolling pin, strangled her and stuffed her into the suitcase in a snug fetal position that Cantu couldn’t have squeezed into on her own. Huckaby then tossed the suitcase into an agricultural ditch that stunk so badly of manure that searchers couldn’t retrieve the suitcase until it eventually floated to the surface.

In the first few days of the investigation, detectives assumed the killer was a man. They trailed local sex offenders and investigated their alibis. Says Tesla: "We thought there was no way a woman would do these things."

2 Killed, 12 Hurt Aa Fire Crew Truck Crashes North OF LA

Slaying of Publicist Baffles Police, Hollywood

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — A late-night shooting that left a prominent Beverly Hills publicist dead in her Mercedes on Sunset Boulevard has become a mystery straight out of one of the movies she promoted.

Ronni Chasen, a publicist and woman-about-town, was gunned down Tuesday after attending the premiere of the new Cher film "Burlesque," whose soundtrack she was pushing for an Oscar nomination, according to the trade publication Variety.

She also was working with 20th Century Fox on a supporting actor Oscar campaign for Michael Douglas in "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps," according to Allen Berry, a publicist for the actor.

She was shot in the chest several times in the attack that sent her luxury car careening into a light post.

Police had no motive or suspects and said no threats had been reported against the 64-year-old Chasen. The mystery deepened later in the day when police seized computers from her firm, Chasen and Co.

The attack stunned Hollywood, where she was a revered figure after promoting the Oscar-winning film "Driving Miss Daisy" and other major movies and stars over the years.

"I had the extreme pleasure of working with Ronni on 'Driving Miss Daisy,'" Morgan Freeman, who was nominated for an Oscar for the film, said in a statement. "We've been friends ever since. She is someone I greatly admired, and she will be remembered."

Fellow publicist Howard Bragman called the killing bizarre.

"She wasn't a shady character," he said. "It's a small community and she was one of the fixtures in it."

Witnesses said they heard gunshots in the serene Beverly Hills neighborhood and called 911 before going outside to help.

"I heard the 'Boom! Boom! Boom!' of gunshots, ran up to the window, and there was the back of the car," Nahid Schekarchian, who lives in an apartment above the crash site, told The Associated Press.

She said her son and a neighbor ran down to the car and found Chasen, who was struggling to breathe and bleeding from her nose and chest.

The front passenger's window was shattered.

Bradley Turell, a longtime colleague of Chasen, came to the site to mourn his friend.

"Ronni was a positive force of nature," he said during an interview by The Associated Press and KNBC. "She was just great at what she did, a supreme sales person and a great lady."

Chasen was involved in Hollywood publicity since the 1970s. She also promoted "On Golden Pond," which won Academy Awards for best actor, actress and screenplay in 1981.

In recent years, she worked with a number of music clients, including Janet Jackson, composer Hans Zimmer, producer Glen Ballard and Diane Warren, who wrote the song "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me," which Cher sings in "Burlesque."

Bragman said Chasen had a unique way of doing business.

"She was not a woman who was a slave to the fashion of the day," he said. "She played to her own vision and integrity. She was very bright, very successful."

Australian Businessman Arrested in Deadly Hit & Run, Victim Id'd

WEST HOLLYWOOD ( KTLA) -- An Australian businessman has been arrested in connection with the hit-and-run death of a 21-year-old woman who was struck and killed by a Bentley while crossing Sunset Boulevard.

Ryan Bowman, 43, was being booked on suspicion of manslaughter after surrendering Thursday afternoon to deputies at the sheriff's West Hollywood station.

Meantime, the coroner's office has identified the 21-year old victim.

Authorities say Lauren Ann Freeman had just left a concert at the Roxy Theatre when she and a group of friends crossed Sunset Blvd. at Hammond St. to reach a taxi around 11:50 p.m. Wednesday.

Freeman was in a crosswalk when she was struck by a dark-colored Bentley and thrown more than 50 feet.

Freeman died at the scene.

No one else was hurt.

Some witnesses said they thought the traffic light was green for east-west traffic on Sunset Boulevard, but others said it was red, giving pedestrians crossing southbound the right of way.

The vehicle was found along Westmount Drive, west of La Cienega Blvd., several hours later.

The engine was still running.

Late Thursday, Bowman turned himself in.

"Bowman's attorney contacted us and surrendered client to West Hollywood detectives," said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.

"He invoked his 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination and we booked him on [charges of] vehicular manslaughter."

Whitmore said alcohol "most likely played a role in this tragic event."

Tragic End For Twin Teen Brothers In Hayward

HAYWARD, Calif. -- A tragic story unfolded in Hayward Wednesday afternoon where police were investigating whether a 15-year-old boy murdered his twin brother or if the two teens had entered a failed suicide pact.

According to the department, the tragedy began to unfold prior to 8:45 a.m. Tuesday morning after a neighbor called 911 to say they saw a teen breaking into a neighborhood home.

Arriving officers confronted the 15-year-old, who had turned on gas jets inside the home. The teen demanded to be shot, but officers instead Tasered him before he was taken into custody.

During the investigation deputies learned the teen suspect’s twin brother was missing.

On Wednesday morning, authorities found a body down in a heavily-wooded ravine which backs up to Hayward high school.

Wednesday afternoon NewsChopper 2 shot footage of crews being lowered into the ravine to recover the body. The body was taken to the coroner to confirm it was the suspect's twin brother

Investigators were looking at two possibilities when it comes to the boy's death. Both were disturbing.

“At this point we're trying to determine if this was a suicide by the brother and attempted suicide by the other brother or if the brother arrested murdered the sibling,” said Alameda County Sheriff's Department Sgt. J.D. Nelson.

The cul de sac where the targeted home was located remained cordoned off with crime scene tape Wednesday while deputies investigated.

The boys were sophomores at Hayward High School. Additional counselors were brought in Wednesday to talk with staff and students.

“A lot of people are taking it hard,” said Hayward High senior. Achael Romey. “I feel bad for the family as well.”

“They didn't have any problems with anybody,” said sophomore Shiva Chetty. “Just nice kids. Friends with everybody. Nobody expected what happened to happen.”

The school superintendent said neither boy had any reported problems with bullying. Counselors were scheduled to return to the campus Thursday.

The surviving brother was arrested for burglarizing the home. He remained at Eden Hospital recovering from self-inflicted stab wounds.

Their identities were not released because the two boys are juveniles.