News Scrapbook 1985

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.I Evening Tribune {Cir. D. 127,454) A 8

San Diego, CA (Son Diego Co.) Evening Tribune \Cir. D 127,4541

San Diego, CA [San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (Cir . 0 . 127,,154)

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.Jlllm'• P. c. e F.Jr. I 888 Judge will allow four-week recess in Lu<29s.Jiearing

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f',r. 1888 robers broaden scope of Lucas case ,f/...C/.S~ . . . · · · d By Mike Konon Deputy District Attorney George W. Clarke adnutted _that Lucas currently is charged with three ~laymgs an _an at- Tribune um Writer preliminary comparison of a note seized from Lucas' cell with a tempted murder and faces a Friday preliminary hearmg on Hand prints and head-hair samples were taken today from bloodstained note found at_ the scene of two 1979 s!ayings indi- those charges. The slayings ~e already is charged wit_h are the multiple murd r u p ct David Allen Lucas in the continuing cated tha~ the note was written by Lucas, but he said no formal N?v· 20 death of Anne Cathe.rine Swanke, 22_, a U versit of San inv tig lion of two additional slayings. _ handwriting exemplar had been taken. . . Diego h~nor_ student who '.\as last seen ahve a~ s~e came a Th mple were taken in county jail by San Diego Police Deputy District Attorney Be_rnard Reyak, who IS prosecuting can of gasoline toward her car on Parkway Drive m La_Mesa, Department investigators after Presiding Superior Court Judge another man for the 1979 ~layings, coofmned that at least one and the Oc~. ~3 murders of_Rhonda Strang, 24, .and a child s.he o nald w. Smith d med a request for an order preventing the handwriting expert has said that the note found at the sce~e of "'.as bab_y-s1tting, Amber Fisher, 3. Lucas also 1s charged wit~ sample-taking. the slayings of Suzanne Camille Jacobs, ~1, and her son, Cohn, 3, k1dnappmg, r~pe, assault and atte~pted murder of Jody Santi- Smith d med the request by Lucas' attorney, G. Anthony had been written by Lucas. The head-hair samples_ were soug~t ago, who s~rv1ved a .slashed throat m a June 9 attack. Gilham, followmg a brief hearing this morning. Gilham a~gu~d because Jacobs wasiound with stra_nds of. blohd hair clutched in Meanwhile, Mass_mgale now faces a Jan. 14 trial on t~e that District Attorney Ed Miller's office "already has m its her hand. Lucas, 29, has blond hair, while the man presently charge f m~rdermg Jacobs and her son May 2~, 1979, m posse Ion enough evidence and any further intrusion on his charged with the slayings, Johnny Massingale, 30, of Harlan, Jacobs' home m the 3400 block of Arthur Avenue in Normal (Lu~ ) p rson 1s unreasonable." ---~ Ky., has dark hair. --~ Heuz:hts.

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A~irfii~y hearing for David Allen Lucas on three murder charges will be interrupted for almost lour weeks. Municipal Judge Wayne L. Peter- son announced yesterday that he will hear testimony tomorrow afternoon, then recess the hearing until Feb. 5 to allow defense attorney G. Anthony Gilham time to analyze police re- ports and evidence. At Gilham's requ st, the hearing is being conducted bchmd closed doors. "' Peterson ruled that barring the pub- lic was necessary tQ ensure a fair jury. ing Ann C~therine Swanke, 22, lj/ University pf San DiJlgo .student who was last seen ahve Nov. 20 on Park- way Drive in La Mesa; and with mur- dering Amber Fisher, 3, and her baby-sitter, Rhonda Strang, 24, on Ocl 23. He also is accused of liidnap- ping, raping, assaulting and attempt- ing to murder Jody Santiago on June 9. • Lucas also is considered a suspect in the May 24, 1979, slayings of Su- zanne Camille Jacobs, 31, and her son, Colin, 3, in their home in the 3400 block of Arthur Avenue in Normal Heights. Another man, Jqlinny Massingale, 30, of Harlan, Ky., as originally charged with the Jacobs killings but was rel~ed Friday. / Lucas, 29, is charg d ilh murder- /

San Diego, CA [San Diego Co.I Evening Tribune !Cir. D. 127,454)

Man hel in murders cleared Massingale case dropped on insufficient evidence

By Vic1i'?ofe: and Mike Konon Tribune Staff Writers

Lucas' hands were bound to his waist by chains as h walked between two marshals. The paths of the two men crossed yesterday after the district attorney's office dropped both charges against Massingale stemming from the 1979 slayings of a Nor- mal Heights woman and her son. Massingale was to have stood trial Jan. 14. "I got nothing against San Diego," Massingale told reporters who clustered outside the downtown jail as h was released. "I've just t>t:n mistreated by the law. Please see MURDERS, f9

San Diego, CA !San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (Cir. D. 127,,154) ' 3 1 ~5

Son Diego, CA \San Diego C~-l San Diego Union \Cir . D. 217,32,I) {Cir. s. 339,7881

John Massingale, in the county jail for the past 10 months awaiting trial on two murder charges, walked out a free man at 5:45 p.m. yesterday. Minutes later, David Allen Lucas, charged with three murders and now under investigation in connection with the two slayings for which Massingale had been accused, was escorted into jail from the county court- house.

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7S Proposal for freeway call boxes By Pam r:s;{tf Stall Wnler A local ~Idle senator is lead11111 a drive to provide emergency call box along San Diego CoW1ty fr •· ways within the year. In tht• next mo.,!b, st"te Sen. W1l• ltam A Craven, :dkcam,1de, will propo 1• a plan to the state Leg1sla- lun! which would earmark $2 million of the state's general fund for the proiect The funds would provide the boxes at qu<1rter-m1lc mlervals along all o1 San Diego County's 283 nnk-s of free- ways Stalled motomls can use lhc phonl':i, winch would hnk them d1• rec1ly to California Highway Patrol operators, to summon law enforce mcnl officers or a local towmg ageA• cy •rtie irnplementat~n of the proJect would make San Diego County the s1-cond in the s~te with a call box sy tern Lo:; Angeles County has op- t>r ted a sucet~ful ~y ·tem ~mce 1!16i. If approved, Cravi:n said he will ask the :;tale to funnl·I the money through C .. i!Trans and have them spend II orrttle an Diego reg1011 Cr.1ven hopes the County of S;in 011.:go 111111 implement the plan. •·1 have submitted a plan to the county but I'm still wa1tmg for the word to !;Ce how receptive they r~ to 1l," he said. Craven said he got the idea to start a call-bvx drive in ~('ember, when he read a &n Vi~JIO Univn e,htorial praising the idea for such a sy.stem in San Diego County. ' • .- • Craven said the County of Lo:. • gcle:; bas ~av d money elft:h -year w1lh its system The edllorn1I, which appeared Dec_ 9, said on)y 20 percent of the Los Angeles system' 80,000 calls a month on the emergency phones re-, qum:d a law enforcement re:.ponse. As a rc:sult, the CHP's patrol cost:. Jre reduced by more than $1 mHliOI\ a yl•ar. To bring th t ost of implementmg the prui;ram down, Craven said lh.e bo es could tic placed at half,mile nule mtt•rv Is in the le:,s mcorpotat• ~'

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AIN: The feds are deep rnto yet another San Diego in- vestment probe. This one in- volves Michael Hoyt du Pont of the du Pont chemical family. He 1s a Point Loma resident. His du Pont Energy Cont rol Corp. al- legedly talked of 100-to-1 profit from a secret fonnula for creat- ing wood, concrete and cerami substitutes. (Several investor say they w re told that an entire airfield could be p ured within a mornm , ready fo noon aircraft landings) Atty. J im Lorenz, for- mer U.S. attorney, is represent- ing du Pon The buck may not stop there Lorenz ays lus client was bamboozled bv a rool pa r of San Diego brothers, dnd du Pont is swng them The investigation continu and reported investor loses mount CLO EOUT: Frank ClJrk i liquidating the Adams Avenue carpet cleaning company be owned v.ith David Lucas, who's not riround. Lucas is the man char ed with lr.illiog niversity of~.Diego_ honor sturlP'lt Anne Catherine Swanke, an~ a 3-year- old girl and her baby 'tter in Lake ide.

UPI photo by David McNew

JOHNNY MASSINGALE LEAVES COUNTY JAIL Cleared of two 1979 slayings here

*Murders Continued From Page 1 "I f~l like they ?We me one for what they done." . Despite the evenmg chill, Massingale, 30, was dressed m on!~ a gray polyester shirt and blue jeans. His face ~re rucks fro~ a fresh shave, and his hair was neatly trimmed, but his voice quavered and tears came to his eyes as he talked to reporters. "Yes, ma'am," he replied when asked whether he felt glad to be out of jail. "I just want to go home." He added that for his first meal out of jail he wanted "a bowl of beans and corn bread." Mass:ngale was arrested by police in his hometown Harlan, Ky., in May after being stopped for a mis~ demeanor traffic violation. _He was extradited to San Diego County and charged with the May 24, 1979, slayings of Suzanne Camille Jacobs, 31, and her son, Colin, 3, in their home in the 3400 block of Arthur Avenue in Normal Heights. Evidence against Massingale consisted of statements by Texas prison inmate Jimmy Joe Nelson, a friend of Massmgale, who reported that the Kentuckian had ad- mitted the Normal Heights killings during a cross-coun-' try trip in 1980. Further, police obtained statements from Massingale that implicated him in the deaths. After Lucas was arrested last month on other murder charges, police took samples of his hair and handwriting to compare to evidence gathered at the Jacobs home. Yesterday, Superior Court Judge Barbara T. Gamer granted a r~u~t by Deputy District Attorney Bernard Revak to d1sm1ss both charges against Massingale be- caus~ prose~u~ors h_a? reac~ed "unanimous agreement" that there 1s 1nsufflc1ent evidence to link Massingale to the homicides of Suzanne Jacobs and her son, Colin." After the dismissal, Massingale's attorney, James Tetley, said that "once Lucas was discovered, I don't thmk they reasonably could have won the case" against Massingale.

Revak said that he does not plan to charge Lucas with the Jacobs slayings now, but that the investigation is continuing. Yesterday, Massingale seemed confused when asked a~ut s?tements he had made to police implicating himself m the slayings. "The cop told me, 'We got evidence over in San Diego,' and I told him I'd never been to San Diego ~xcept f_o~ two weeks in 1980 or 1981," Massingale said. I was livmg on the streets then like a street person." Massingale said his attorneys, Tetley and Tim Ru(!1erford~ have arranged a place for him to stay until be is required to testify in connection with charges against Lucas. Of the case against Lucas, he said: "I don't know anything about it." After reporters fired more questions at him, Massin- gale appeared upset. " ,"Si:," the soft-spoken Kentuckian told one reporter, Id hke to have a lawyer now. With all the questions you people are asking, I don't know whether I'm coming or going." He was rescued by a man who identified himself as a private investigator and took Massingale away in a car. "I just thank God I'm out," Massingale told reporters as the car pulled away. ~eanwhile, a preliminary hearing for Lucas began behmd closed doors. Municipal Judge Wayne L. Peter- son ~anted a defens~ request to close the hearing to the public to ensure a fair trial. The hearing is expected to take at least two weeks. Lucas, 29, is charged with murdering Anne Catherine Swanke! 23, a U'1ivecsity of Sar Dieeo ileAer student last seen alive Nov. 20 as she carried a can of gasoline toward her car on Parkway Drive in La Mesa· with murdering Amber Fisher, 3, and her baby sitter, Rhonda Strang, _24, Oct. 23; and with kidnapping, raping and attemptmg to murder Jody Santiago on June 9.

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