Opinion ID: 844140
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Murder of Paul Vados

Text: In 1997, Paul Vados, then about 70 years old, moved into an inexpensive apartment on South Fedora Avenue in Los Angeles. The off-site apartment manager testified that Vados appeared to have no job and was generally drunk; his apartment was filthy. Twelve-year-old Norma Ceja, the daughter of the on-site manager, testified that she and her mother would bring food to Vados when he was too drunk to care for himself. According to Ceja, Vados was visited about twice a month by codefendant Rutterschmidt, who said she was Vados‟s sister. Once, Ceja‟s mother saw Rutterschmidt and another elderly White woman at Vados‟s apartment. (At that time, defendant Golay and Rutterschmidt were each about 70 years old.) Between 1997 and 1999, applications for at least six policies insuring Vados‟s life were made on his behalf. Some policies listed either defendant Golay or codefendant Rutterschmidt as a beneficiary, while others listed both. 2 Rutterschmidt was listed as Vados‟s cousin and Golay as his fiancée. In fact, Rutterschmidt and Vados were unrelated, and lacking is evidence of a romantic involvement between Golay and Vados. On the morning of November 8, 1999, the body of 73-year-old Vados was found lying in an alley near North La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles, about a mile from Rutterschmidt‟s home. Los Angeles Police Officer Lee Willmon, who came to the scene, found no identification papers on the body. Head and chest injuries suggested that Vados had been run over by a car, but Officer Willmon found no glass fragments or car parts at the scene. Vados had no leg fractures, which, according to forensic pathologist Louis Pena, ordinarily occur when a person who is standing or walking is fatally struck by a car. Based on the nature of the injuries, the grease marks on Vados‟s clothes, and the body‟s location (perpendicular to the alley), Officer Willmon concluded that Vados, while lying in the alley, was run over by a slow-moving vehicle. Nine days later, defendant Golay and codefendant Rutterschmidt reported to the police that Vados had been missing for over a week. Rutterschmidt, who signed the missing person report, described herself as Vados‟s cousin. Thereafter, Rutterschmidt told the off-site manager of Vados‟s apartment that she had been “in charge of” Vados and would remove his belongings from the apartment. A month or so after Vados‟s death, defendant Golay telephoned Officer Willmon for a copy of the police report on Vados‟s death. She said that she was a “one-time fiancée” of Vados and that Rutterschmidt was Vados‟s cousin. Golay and Rutterschmidt collected $589,124.93 on the insurance policies taken out on Vados‟s life. 3