Latest news with #LosAngelesPoliceDepartment
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
Suspect in American Idol exec killing called 911 from her home, but police didn't find bodies for four days
The man accused of killing 'American Idol' music supervisor Robin Kaye and her rock musician husband, Tom DeLuca, in their home in Encino allegedly called 911 after the crime, the county's top prosecutor said, yet it still took four more days to discover their bodies. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman revealed the new details in the slaying of Kaye and DeLuca during a town hall meeting in Encino on Monday where hundreds of residents gathered to express frustration about a string of recent break-ins plaguing the area. The revelation raises questions over how police handled the initial situation and when exactly they learned about the couple's deaths. Investigators believe Kaye and DeLuca walked in on Raymond Boodarian, 22, burglarizing their $4.5 million Encino home on White Oak Avenue on July 10, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Police allege Boodarian entered the home—which his heavily secured, with a large wall and security cameras—through an unlocked door. After the couple returned home, 'a confrontation ensued' and the suspect shot them, police said. A search warrant affidavit filed by members of the San Fernando Valley homicide unit said that police responded to two burglary calls at the address the day the couple was killed. Police filed the warrant to review Ring doorbell camera footage from a neighboring home that they hoped captured the break-in or the killings. The first call came in shortly after 4 p.m. on July 10, when a neighbor reported an unidentified man trying to break into the couple's home, according to the warrant. About 40 minutes later, police received a second call from someone in the couple's home claiming to be a resident reporting that a suspect had broken in. The 911 operator could hear the caller saying, 'Please don't shoot me,' to someone and dispatched officers to the scene, the warrant said. The caller eventually advised that police response was not necessary and follow-up attempts to reach the caller was unsuccessful, said LAPD Communications Director Jennifer Forkish. The warrant does not make it clear if the second call to police was from one of the two victims or Boodarian representing himself as a resident. Hochman said on Monday that at one point during the incident the suspect called 911 and identified himself to police. It is not clear exactly what he told dispatchers during the call. Authorities sent officers to the house in response to both calls, which were linked based on the address, Forkish said, but they weren't able to access the home and left. 'Officers arrived on scene and conducted a check of the surrounding area and attempted to visually check the residence through the security gate. They attempted entry at two access points but both were locked and secured,' Forkish said in a statement. 'The home was secured with surrounding walls. The Air Ship visually checked the location and advised there was no visible activity or evidence of break in. After taking additional steps to contact the persons reporting and residents at the location, officers cleared from the scene.' Kaye and Deluca, who were both 70, were found dead inside the home four days later when officers returned to the property for a welfare check. The couple, whose bodies were found in separate rooms, according to law enforcement sources, had multiple gunshot wounds. It's the third time in recent months that LAPD officers have gone to a location in the San Fernando Valley after receving a 911 call and left, only to return later to a homicide. Menashe Hidra's body was found April 26 inside his fifth-floor Valley Village apartment after an assailant broke into a neighboring unit, jumped from the balcony to his unit and attacked him, investigators said. Three days before, neighbors had called 911 and reported hearing shouting and a struggle coming from the apartment. Officers responded to those calls, knocked on the door and left without finding anything. Erick Escamilla, 27, was eventually charged with the killing, along with an unrelated homicide from 2022. The same day that Hidra's body was discovered, police found the body of Aleksandre Modebadze, who was beaten to death inside his Woodland Hills home. In that case, a woman inside the home called LAPD about 12:30 a.m. and reported three people had broken into her home and were beating her significant other before the call suddenly cut out, according to law enforcement sources. The 911 operator tried to call back multiple times without success. Shortly before 1 a.m., officers arrived at the home but no one answered the door, there was no noise coming from inside the home and the blinds were down, the sources told The Times. Modebadze was later found by officers badly beaten with a traumatic head injury and eventually died of his injuries. Authorities found Modebadze's suspected killers hours after the incident. Hochman said in the case of Kaye and Deluca investigators were eventually able to track Boodarian's location by pinging his cell phone and arrested him. Hochman told the crowd Monday night that as a lifelong Angeleno, the twin killings were personal to him. 'The government owes you one thing and that's safety,' Hochman said. 'Robin and Tom didn't experience safety that night. Safety failed them.' The killings appeared to be random, law enforcement sources said, but investigators are looking for any connection between the suspect and DeLuca and Kaye, and whether Boodarian was involved in any past calls for service at the White Oak Avenue residence. Boodarian was arrested on July 15 and is being held without bail at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility. He's charged with two counts of murder, burglary and special allegations for multiple murders, personal discharge of a firearm and murder while engaging in robbery. Court records show Boodarian has a history of alleged criminal offenses, including charges of battery, exhibiting a deadly weapon and threatening to commit a crime with the intent to terrorize. Charges were later dismissed after hearings related to mental competency and a conservatorship. Kaye notably served as a music producer for 'American Idol' from 2009 to 2023, working on nearly 300 episodes, according to IMDb. Her credits also included several 'Miss Universe' TV specials, numerous NAACP Image Awards ceremonies, 'The Singing Bee' and 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer.' DeLuca was a singer-songwriter best known for his 1986 album 'Down to the Wire.' His most recent release was the album 'Street Rock,' which came out in 2022.
2 days ago
'American Idol' music supervisor and husband killed with their own gun: DA
The gun allegedly used in the killing of an "American Idol" music supervisor and her husband at their home in Los Angeles belonged to the victims, according to prosecutors. Robin Kaye and her husband, Thomas Deluca, both 70, were found shot to death in their Los Angeles home during a welfare check on July 14, authorities said. Kaye had been with "American Idol" since 2009, according to a spokesperson for the ABC television show. Responding officers found the victims dead with multiple gunshot wounds, including to the head, police said. It is believed the couple was killed four days earlier, when the Los Angeles Police Department said it received two calls about a possible burglary at the Encino address. The suspect -- 22-year-old Raymond Boodarian -- is accused of scaling a fence onto the property that day, entering the home through an unlocked door and then shooting and killing the couple when they arrived home from the grocery store about 30 minutes later, authorities said. A firearm recovered from the suspect's Encino residence came from the victim's home, according to Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman. "It was a gun that he had recovered from the actual house. It was Robin and Tom's gun," Hochman said during a public safety forum in Encino on Monday. "It wasn't his gun. Which is exceptionally tragic." Boodarian was arrested on July 15 and has since been charged with two counts of murder and a count of residential burglary, with the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders and murder during the commission of a burglary, the district attorney's office said. He has not yet entered a plea to the charges. He is being held without bail and his next court hearing is Aug. 20. Hochman said officers were led to Boodarian after the suspect called police. "Mr. Boodarian got caught because he used his cellphone to contact police concerning this situation," Hochman said during Monday's meeting. "Police were able to ping the cellphone, find out where he lived, go to his residence and arrest him." LAPD Deputy Chief Marla Ciuffetelli told attendees of the packed forum that police are continuing to assess the initial July 10 response to the couple's home. Officers were unable to make entry into the home, which Ciuffetelli said was "quite fortified." Police flew a helicopter over and saw no signs of a burglary or any other trouble and cleared the scene, detectives previously said. "We're always striving to try to respond better," Ciuffetelli said. "We're taking a very close look at the response. I'm not saying that there was any mistakes made, but we're making sure that in similar circumstances, that we respond appropriately." In the wake of the killings, LAPD Capt. Michael Bland said the department was upping patrols overnight in Encino. "This is not something we take lightly," he told the crowd.
NBC News
2 days ago
- NBC News
Teddi Mellencamp's Los Angeles home target of burglary as she was home with kids and husband
Two people allegedly attempted to burglarize former "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Teddi Mellencamp's Los Angeles home on Monday night, her husband said. Three people jumped their gate and set off their alarm system, Mellencamp's estranged husband Edwin Arroyave told NBC News Los Angeles. The suspects broke in through a side door into their office, but fled after about 20 seconds he said. He and Mellencamp were both home at the time with their four children, who ranged in age from 5 to 16 years old. "By the time we came down, they had already ran out," Arroyave said. "But I just saw, obviously, the doors open at the house and stuff." A spokesperson from the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to NBC News that officers responded to a report of a burglary on Mellencamp's block at 10:15 p.m. on Monday night. The caller told officers that two men in black hoodies came to their house after a neighbor's house was burglarized, police said. Arroyave believes the suspects were scared off by the security system and the fact that people were home. Officers arrived quickly, but the suspects fled before they got to the house, Arroyave added. "You really don't see anything because they have hoods, fully covered, gloves," Arroyave said. "I mean, they're professionals at what they do and stuff, although these seem pretty young." Break-ins have become an "unfortunate thing" happening with some frequency in Los Angeles, he said. Arroyave focused on the positive aspects of the incident and that everyone was safe despite the scary moment. He urged others to "prepare for the unexpected." Mellencamp made headlines earlier this year when she revealed doctors found multiple tumors on her brain. She posted in February that she went to the hospital with a debilitating headache that prompted scans. She had previously been open about her ongoing battle with stage 2 melanoma, which metastasized into stage 4 cancer with tumors developed on her lungs and brain. Mellencamp shared later that month that the tumors 'significantly shrunk" following surgery and immunotherapy. In addition to her health struggle, Mellencamp is separated from Arroyave, but they paused divorce proceedings amid her cancer treatment. Arroyave has his own home but sometimes stays in a guest room at Mellencamp's house, according to Bravo, home of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills." This helps ensure that Mellencamp never sleeps alone while she deals with her health issues.
2 days ago
Attempted burglary reported at Teddi Mellencamp's Los Angeles home
An attempted burglary reported Monday night in Los Angeles took place at a home that property records show belongs to Teddi Mellencamp. Residents were inside the home at the time of the burglary, but it is not known whether Mellencamp, a former star of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," and her family were present, sources told ABC News. The Los Angeles Police Department said a call came in around 10:15 p.m. local time Monday for a burglary with residents inside. When police officers arrived at the home, the suspected burglars had left the home without obtaining full access The suspects gained entry to the property possibly through the garage but did not get far before they ran off, according to the LAPD. The suspects got away in a black BMW. The LAPD says it is looking for two males in black hooded sweatshirts. Mellencamp is the daughter of music legend John Cougar Mellencamp. The mom of four -- including a stepdaughter with her estranged husband Edwin Arroyave -- announced earlier this year that she was diagnosed with Stage 4 melanoma, a type of skin cancer, which she said had spread to her brain and lungs. Teddi Mellencamp has said
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
LAPD undergoes first major leadership shake-up with McDonnell as chief
LOS ANGELES - In his first major shake-up since taking over the Los Angeles Police Department in November, Chief Jim McDonnell has given new assignments to more than a dozen officials from the upper ranks. Faced with ongoing struggles to woo new recruits and uncertainty around his plans to overhaul the LAPD, McDonnell gave the first indications about how he intends to reorganize by elevating three deputy chiefs - Emada Tingirides, Michael Rimkunas and Scott Harrelson - to top positions and resurrecting a long-dormant bureau. The moves were announced in a departmentwide email last week but aren't expected to take effect until later this month. Tingirides, who lost out to McDonnell in a bid to become chief last fall, becomes assistant chief in charge of the Office of Operations, which oversees patrol functions. She was recently announced as a finalist for the same job in Fort Worth, according to local news reports. Her recent promotion is seen by some inside the department as a move to convince her to stay. She becomes the highest-ranking Black woman in the department's history. Harrelson will now be in charge of the department's training and recruitment efforts as the head of the Office of Support Services, replacing Assistant Chief Daniel Randolph, who is expected to retire in the coming weeks. Filling out McDonnell's inner circle are two other holdovers from the administration of former Chief Michel Moore: Rimkunas and Dominic Choi, who served as interim chief until McDonnell took over in November. Choi remained an assistant chief but was named McDonnell's chief of staff - in effect the department's No. 2. The head of the bureau that includes internal affairs, Rimkunas will now run the Office of Special Operations. McDonnell also resurrected the department's Human Resources Bureau, which was shut down in 2004 when McDonnell he was a senior official under former Chief William J. Bratton. He didn't immediately say what the new bureau's responsibilities will be. It's unclear whether McDonnell will have to submit parts of his reorganization plan to the City Council, which in the past has had to sign off on changes to the department's structure. When he took the job last year, McDonnell initially said he wanted to spend at least three months studying the LAPD to understand how it had changed since he came up through the ranks. He left in 2010 to become the top cop in Long Beach, then served a term as L.A. County sheriff. His early review timeline was thrown off, he told reporters at a news conference last week, because of the fires in January and the recent protests over federal immigration raids. The series of major incidents, McDonnell said, presented an unexpected opportunity to evaluate his senior staff to see how they performed "in crisis mode." The chief added that he had delayed his realignment for the "outcome of the budget to see where we were" and the completion of a monthslong study of the department by Rand Corp., a global policy think tank brought in last year to conduct a top-down review. The study was recently finished, and McDonnell said he was reviewing its recommendations, as well as those made by the numerous internal working groups he had convened to look at recruitment, discipline and other workplace issues. Without offering details, McDonnell hinted that another one of his priorities will be beefing up the department's detective ranks and overhauling the system that handles misconduct complaints against officers, long a source of controversy and frustration. "I have in rough form what I think it could look like, but I certainly want to get the input from those who are dealing with it on a day-to-day basis on how do we best deal with the nuances of doing the job today with the number of resources that we have," he told reporters. McDonnell has come under growing pressure from critics who have said he is moving too slowly to make changes, with more urgency required as the city gets ready to host events such as the next year's World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games. In other personnel moves announced last week, McDonnell moved Deputy Chief Marc Reina from the Training Bureau to South Bureau, where he previously worked as captain, and promoted German Hurtado, the department's immigration coordinator, to deputy chief over Central Bureau, which has been the epicenter of recent protests. Hurtado has been named in at least two pending lawsuits by LAPD officials accusing him of covering up unjustified uses of force by officers during the 2020 protests. The city has denied wrongdoing and is fighting the cases in court. "As far as I know, I'm only named as a witness in those cases, and I'm not at liberty to talk about ongoing lawsuits," Hurtado said when reached Monday by The Times. McDonnell also demoted Assistant Chief Blake Chow to his civil service rank of commander - a similar trajectory to McDonnell, who was made to drop a rank during the tenure of former Chief Charlie Beck. Capt. Ray Valois, who helped oversee the department's response to the Palisades fire, was elevated to commander in the Valley Bureau. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
