Opinion ID: 1239150
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Defendant's initial arrest

Text: On July 31, LAPD officers obtained warrants to arrest defendant in connection with the presumed death of Tracey Campbell, and to conduct a search of his apartment and vehicle. At approximately 6:00 p.m., Detectives Charles Worthen, Robert Rooney, and John Rockwood arrested defendant at the Meat Market bar and seized his automobile, transporting it to the police station. Detective Donald Ravens participated in the police search of defendant's apartment. Inside a box located in a hall closet, the officers found a silver chain, a bracelet with a rainbow design, one pair of earrings having purple stones, and one pair of earrings having stones resembling diamonds. On a coffee table, the officers found a key chain with four keys attached to multiple other key chains. At approximately 6:30 p.m., Detective Robert Rooney and other officers searched defendant's vehicle, discovering a knife and an address book in the trunk. Inside the vehicle, the officers discovered two Polaroid photographs and a number of photographic negatives, as well as a camera bag containing photographs, negatives, and camera equipment. Under the floorboard, the officers found a key chain with several keys and three rings attached. One of these keys subsequently was discovered to fit the locks and ignition both of Shari's vehicle and Olga Talbot's vehicle. Detective Rooney removed the items and placed them on the homicide desk inside the police station. The Polaroid photographs depicted a young woman asleep in a vehicle. Several negatives and photographs inside the camera bag depicted the same young woman posing, with a bandage clearly visible on her arm, at various locations in the desert. Upon observing the photographs, Detective Rockwood noticed and commented to Detective St. John, who was investigating the death of Jane Doe No. 60, that the woman in the photographs had an ankle tattoo in the same area of the body where the skin had been removed from the body of Jane Doe No. 60, and that there might be a connection between the two cases. Thereafter, an LAPD forensic expert matched the fingerprints of Jane Doe No. 60 with those of Shari Miller, taken from a record of her arrest in 1980. Following defendant's arrest on the evening of July 31, Detectives Worthen and Rockwood interviewed him for four to five hours, and on the following day for an additional seven to ten hours. The police asked defendant about the identity of a young woman depicted in several photographs he had taken. Defendant told them that her name was Shari Miller. He had known her two years, having met her when she was a barmaid at the Meat Market bar. She was in the process of obtaining a divorce, had been a restaurant manager, currently was working as a house painter (he had noticed she had flecks of paint on her clothing), and intended to major in graphic arts at college. Defendant stated that Shari had wanted recent photographs of herself to give to her mother. Defendant had taken the photographs during the last part of June at Castle Rock in Topanga Canyon. Defendant had dropped off some of the prints for Shari at the Meat Market bar, retaining other prints that he thought were very good, to show to her in person. He last had seen Shari on June 30 or July 1, when she stopped by his apartment and he took the Polaroid photographs. On the fourth of July, he had gone to the Huntington Beach area to watch the tall ships, but did not take photographs. Defendant identified his address book, which contained telephone numbers for Shari's mother's residence, addresses for several of her friends, and a map she had drawn for defendant indicating where she then was staying. When asked about the bracelet, two pairs of earrings (with white stones and purple stones), and a chain seized from his apartment, defendant stated that approximately two months earlier, Shari had given them to him, asking him to have the bracelet re-plated, the earrings remounted, and a medallion added to the chain. He stated that the key chain with three rings attached belonged to him, and the rings had belonged to several of his ex-wives, including Cindy and Susie, who had returned them. When asked about Tracey Campbell, defendant provided the following account to the detectives. Defendant first met Tracey on July 9, when he took photographs of Todd at the construction site. He denied having had a conversation with Tracey on July 11 concerning her plans to become a model. On the morning of July 12, he had cleaned and vacuumed at Culver City Camera Shop. At approximately 2:30 p.m., as he returned to his apartment, Tracey appeared, wearing floral-patterned blue gym shorts with a matching tie top and a bikini swimsuit top, and asked to use his telephone to contact a girlfriend. Defendant then gave Tracey a ride to the corner of Midvale Avenue and Venice Boulevard, but did not learn where she intended to go after that. Defendant proceeded to drive a circuitous route to Santa Monica airport, Marina Del Rey, Century City, back to Santa Monica airport, the Mormon Temple, Loyola University, El Segundo, Los Angeles International Airport, King Harbor, Malibu, Leo Carillo State Beach, and Culver City Camera, and then returned to his apartment. The officers previously had learned that in April 1983, defendant and Nick Klos had driven to the bowl area in the desert near Lancaster, and they asked defendant whether he had gone to that part of the desert with a group of individuals that included Klos. Defendant stated that he had gone to the desert with those persons at that time, but denied that he had gone to the desert with anyone else. Defendant was released from custody on August 3. On August 7, the police questioned Juanita Farren, an employee of the One Hour Moto-Photo shop on Venice Boulevard, where defendant was a regular customer. The police subsequently obtained store records establishing that defendant had brought in film for developing on July 6, 9, 18, 24, and August 9. Among the negatives submitted during that period were those depicting Shari. On August 9, defendant arrived at the photography shop and asked to speak with Farren, who stepped outside the store. He told her that he knew the police were following him and drew her attention to a particular vehicle across the street, stating that it was a police vehicle. Defendant inquired as to what Farren had told the police. Defendant and Farren then went inside the store. Defendant had brought in a stack of negatives and reviewed them to determine which ones he wished to have reprinted, eventually requesting that 50 to 60 be reprinted. As defendant examined one strip of negatives, he cut off one of the negatives with a pair of scissors, placed the negative in his mouth and chewed it, scraping off the emulsion with his teeth. Defendant had the remainder of that strip reprinted.