Recently in Los Angeles Category

EL SERENO -- Rowland Heights man and a La Puente woman were fatally shot inside a vehicle in the El Sereno area of Los Angeles Saturday.
Michael Talamantes Jr., 32, and Priscilla Jimenez, 31, died at the scene of the shooting, which occurred just before 5 a.m. on Warwick Avenue near Martin Street, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Investigator Jerry McKibben said.
Los Angeles police released few details about the apparently gang-related attack Saturday afternoon.
Officers responded to a report of "shots fired" when they found the victims suffering from "numerous gunshot wounds," LAPD spokeswoman Norma Eisenman said.
No suspect description was available, she said.

This from LA Weekly writer Christine Pelisek:

From the Assocaited Press:

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles police are searching for at least one gunman who fired
shots in the parking lot of a San Fernando Valley hospital.
Officer Rosario Herrera said at least six shots were fired Wednesday outside Valley
Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys.
Police initially reported one person was injured and that the shooting occurred in the
hospital lobby.
However, Herrera said no one was struck by gunfire.
She said detectives were interviewing witnesses to gather information about the suspects and
the motive for the attack.

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES -- Mike Tyson allegedly hit a photographer at Los Angeles International Airport and was detained on suspicion of battery Wednesday, police said.
The paparazzo told police that the former heavyweight boxing champion struck him once, airport police spokesman Sgt. Jim Holcomb said. The photographer fell to the ground and was treated for a cut to his forehead at a hospital.
Tyson's spokeswoman Tammy Brook said the boxer was traveling with his wife and 10-month-old child Wednesday afternoon when he was attacked by an overly aggressive paparazzo. He acted in self-defense to protect his child, she said.
Tyson and the unnamed photographer both want to press charges for misdemeanor battery, police said.
"There's a lot of different versions to this story and that's all going to come out later," Holcomb said. "Some witness statements support Tyson's version, others support the photographer's."
Paparazzi often camp out at Los Angeles' largest airport to get shots of celebrities in transit.
Tyson was cooperative as he waited in a holding cell at the airport police station, Holcomb said. He will be booked and released later. The photographer will also be booked once he is released from the hospital, police said.
Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion ever in 1986 when he won his title as a 20-year-old. But his life since then has been marred by accusations of domestic violence, rape and cocaine use.
Tyson was convicted of rape in Indiana in 1992, serving three years in prison. He was disqualified from a 1997 heavyweight title fight when he bit off part of Evander Holyfield's right ear, and in 1999 he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault charges in Maryland.
In 2003, Tyson filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. He served 24 hours in an Arizona jail in 2007 after pleading guilty to cocaine possession and driving under the influence.

PHOTO courtesy of the Associated Press

This comes from the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES -- A Los Angeles County grand jury has charged a convicted serial killer with three more murders.
Authorities Thursday said Michael Hughes was indicted last week on charges that he raped,
sodomized and strangled a 15-year-old girl, whose body was found in an Iglewood park in 1986. He has also been charged with killing two women in Los Angeles in 1986 and 1993.
One body was found in a school stairwell.
Authorities say Hughes, 53, was linked to the crimes by DNA evidence.
He pleaded not guilty to the new charges on Tuesday and could face the death penalty if
convicted.
Hughes already is serving a life term without chance of parole for killing four women in 1992
and 1993.

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES -- Authorities say a body has been found in a burning car on
the banks of the Los Angeles River.
Fire officials discovered the body after responding to a report of a car fire early
Saturday in the riverbed near the 710 Freeway in the South Gate neighborhood.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Steve Rubino says due to the severity of the burns,
authorities have been unable to identify the body.
The incident is under investigation.

Today -- I took the details from Facebook

LOS ANGELES -- Hundreds of family members and friends of homicide victims are expected to gather Friday in Los Angeles to remember and honor loved ones lost to murder.
The gathering is for the third annual "National Day of Remembrance For Murder Victims," organizers said.
The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. behind the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, 500 W. Temple Street.
Speakers will include California Attorney General General Jerry Brown, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and others.
In Los Angeles, the event is being hosted by the organization Justice For Murdered Children, and will be attended by a host of organizations benefitting family members of homicide victims.

COMPTON -- A getaway driver who was involved in the killing of an off-duty Los Angeles County police captain during a robbery five years ago has been sentenced to 50
years to life in prison.
Orvis Camillo Anthony, 24, of Gardena, pleaded guilty Friday to first-degree murder in
Compton Superior Court.
Prosecutors say Anthony and 26-year-old Miguel Magallon tried to rob Capt. Michael Sparkes near Compton as he biked to work in 2004. Sparkes, 53, was shot nine times with an AK-47 by Magallon, whose DNA was found on the assault weapon.
Magallon was convicted of attempted robbery and murder. He will be sentenced next month.

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES -- Authorities say man who killed himself as deputies served an eviction notice at a Northridge home had a history of psychological problems and a house full of guns.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Guillermina Saldana says deputies heard gunshots when they knocked on 54-year-old David Smith's door Friday.
Neighbors were evacuated and a strategic weapons and tactics team was called. When Los Angeles police officers entered the residence, they found Smith dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Smith was alone in the home and no one else was wounded during the incident.

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES -- A federal judge has overturned the conviction of a Los Angeles man serving a life prison sentence for his mother's death in 1983.
U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips ruled Friday that 44-year-old Bruce Lisker should be retried or set free. She concluded he was convicted on false evidence and that his attorney failed to adequately represent him at trial.
In a phone interview from prison, Lisker says he is elated, but the feeling is bittersweet because he has served more than 24 years in prison.
Two reports by a magistrate judge found in March that faulty evidence was used to convict Lisker in 1985.
A hearing on Monday will determine whether Lisker should be released on bail while prosecutors determine whether to appeal or retry him.

Helter Skelter

She's coming down fast

Yes she is

Yes she is

coming down fast

Aug. 10, 1969, 3301 Waverly Drive, Los Feliz, Calif. It's well after midnight. There's no moon in the sky.

It's a few short miles from the Monrovia neighborhood she grew up in, but Leslie Van Houten is a long way from home.

Charles Manson, whom Van Houten believes is both Jesus and Satan, has just tied up Rosemary and Leno LaBianca.

Manson believes The Beatles are talking to him. He believes their song depicts an apocalyptic race war between blacks and whites.

He figures that by killing some straights, the war will begin in earnest and when the smoke clears, he'll reign as some sort of messiah. At least that's what he tells his followers.

Addled by LSD and an assortment of reds, bennies, dexies, mescaline, hash, opium, PCP, mushrooms and pot, Van Houten buys into the crap Charlie's been feeding her for months. She wants to please him.

"The more I took it (LSD), the more I couldn't relate to regular kinds of people," Van Houten recalled later.

Now, Van Houten stands inside the master bedroom. There's a pillowcase over Rosemary LaBianca's head. Leslie ties it taut with an electrical cord. She can't stand to hear the woman scream.

Van Houten holds Rosemary down, while accomplice Patricia Krenwinkle stabs the woman.

Leslie calls out for help. Leno's killer, Charles "Tex" Watson enters the bedroom and stabs Rosemary several more times with a bayonet. He hands the weapon to Van Houten and tells her, "Do something."

Van Houten delivers 16 more stab wounds. Then she steals the now dead woman's clothes, wipes the crime scene free of fingerprints and leaves the room.

She passes through the living room. There, Rosemary's husband Leno is already dead. Leno's head is covered with a pillowcase.

He's been stabbed with a two-tined carving fork. The word "WAR" has been sliced into his chest. The fork protrudes from his stomach. There's a knife in his throat.

"DEATH TO PIGS" dripped in blood on one of the walls.

Leslie heads to the kitchen. In Leno's blood, someone misspells "HEALTER SKELTER" on the refrigerator door.

Van Houten grabs some food from the `fridge and hitches a ride back to the Spahn Ranch in Van Nuys where she meets up with Charlie.

It's coming down fast.

By December Van Houten and the rest of Manson's family had been captured.

The county jail was a far cry from Van Houten's Monrovia roots.

Her mother, Jane, a Monrovia school teacher, once told a court that "Les" was a "feisty" girl. She sang in the church choir, was a Camp Fire Girl, took piano lessons, liked camping, and was happy with school.

At Monrovia High School, Van Houten was sophomore class princess at homecoming. She was a cheerleader.

Early in 1968, Leslie "dropped out of the straight world," her mother recalled.

After several trials (one of which resulted in the death penalty), retrials, appeals, a brief bit of freedom in 1978, and failed visits to the parole board. Leslie Van Houten remains incarcerated in the state women's prison in Corona.

The place where Van Houten will likely die is just 32 miles from where she grew up - and a world apart.

Celeste Fremon over at Witness LA, takes apart local coverage of the Lily Burk homicide, and breaks down the criminal history of suspect Charlie Samuel, a 50-year-old transient charged in the slaying.