News Scrapbook 1985

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San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (Cir. D. 127,454)

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2 7 1985

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Ex-partner says Lucas used 'buds' similar to oJ:i~round at death ·site

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (Cir. D. 127,454)

By Mike Konon Tribune Stall Writer

Clark also testified that late in 1981 Lucas had been seeking to rent a house in the Spring Valley area, the location of the slaying of Garcia. Clark said that Lucas had sought out rental listings in various newspapers of houses in the East County area. Under cross-examination by de- fense attorney William Saunders, Clark said he and Lucas had been friends since 1980 and worked togeth- er at several carpet cleaning firms before opening their own business in March 1982. Clark said Lucas was in- strumental in having him rehired at M & ACarpet after he was fired. Despite a series of pointed ques- tions from Saunders, Clark stuck to his earlier testimony that he had "filled in" for Lucas on the job start- ing about 1 p.m. the day of the Gar- cia murder. Garcia's body was dis- covered about 6 p.m. that day by an owner of the house she was showing to prospective tenants. Saunders pointed out that compa- ny records show Clark made $98 - his highest daily income in several months - that day despite the fact that Clark says he only cleaned car- pets in the morning and filled in for Lucas in the afternoon. Clark, who has filed suit to dis- solve his business partnership with Lucas, acknowledged that making that much money in the morning re- quired him to do several unusually e~1_>ensive jobs, but he could not spe- c1f1cally recall the jobs he did that day. Lucas already faces a Superior Co~rt trial Oct. 1 on charges of mur- denng Anne Catherine Swanke 22 a Univ~rsi~_pf San Diego hono~ siu- dent who 1sappeared in La Mesa on Nov. 20; Amber Fisher, 3, and her baby sit~er, Rhonda Strang, 24, who ~ere slam Oct. 23 in Strang's Lake- side ~ome; and kidnapping and at- tempting to murder Jody Santiago, 29, a Seattle woman abducted from the parking lot of an El Cajon nightclub on June 9, 1984. Tribune Staff Writer Roy Schneid- er also contributed to this articl/

David Allen Lucas customarily carried marijuana buds similar to those found next to the body of a real estate saleswoman he is charged with murdering, a former business partner says. Testifying yesterday in Lucas' pre- liminary hearing on three murder charges, Frank Clark, Lucas' former partner in Carpet Maintenance Co., said that Lucas customarily carrted buds of marijuana in the cellophane wrapper of a cigarette pack. "Did Lucas in 1981 have a habit of c~rr>:ing marijuana buds?" Deputy District Attorney Daniel Williams asked Clark. "Yes, he said they were the best part of the marijuana. He usually arried them in the cellophane ciga- rette wrappers," Clark said. Williams then showed Clark a photo of the body of real estate sales- woman Gayle Roberta Garcia, 29, illed Dec. 8, 1981, in the back bed- room of a vacant Spring Valley house she had been showing to pro- spective renters. "Showing you this photo, do you recognize what that is next to the person's elbow?" Williams asked. "Yes, that is the type of thing he (Lucas) usually carried," Clark said. Homicide detectives said they found the marijuana next to the woman's body. Clark, who worked with Lucas at M & ACarpet Care in 1981, also testi- fied that Lucas was absent from Work the afternoon of the Garcia killing. Earlier this week a payroll clerk at Precision Metal Pr_oducts Inc. testified that Lucas was absent from his job there on May 4, 1979, the ~ay Suzanne Camille Jacobs, 31, and er son, Colin, 3, were slain in their ormal Heights home.

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t I X~i, / Expert links handwriting of Lucas to note discovered at murder scene By Roy ti:fei r Tribune Stall Writer

Lucas' were "very slim." Harris, by contrast, was less equiv- ocal, saying he reached his opinion with "reasonable certainty." Oleksow has also testified that he had difficulty reaching a conclusion because the original note was all but destroyed when investigators pro- cessed if for fingerprints, leaving hand writing experts with only pho- tographs of the note to work from. But Harris - who is receiving a $125-an-hour fee from the district at- torney's office - said the photo- graphs presented no problem. "These photographs are sufficient- ly clear," he said. "I don't think I had that problem." The note was found in the Normal Heights home of Suzanne Camille Jacobs, 31, where she and her son, Colin, 3, were slain May 4, 1979. Garcia's body was found Dec. 8, 1981, in the back bedroom of a Spring Valley home she was showing to pro- spective renters. All the victims died after their throats were slashed. In other testimony yesterday, sheriffs Homicide Detective Robert

Fullmer said Matthew Limback, a friend of Lucas, had seen Lucas act- ing unusual in late October. "Mr. Lucas had bought a stone and was sharpening his knife on it about 10:30 or 11 p.m.," Fullmer said, re- calling what Limback told authori- ties. "Mr. Lucas said the stone was not producing the wanted effect - the knife wasn't sharp enough - and he was going to have to get another stone .... He returned at approxi- mately 4 a.m.. His shirt was bloody and he made the statement that he wished he could turn the clock back about eight hours." Lucas already faces a Superior Court trial Oct. 1 on charges of mur- dering Amber Fisher, 3, and her baby sitter, Rhonda Strang, 24, who were slain Oct. 23 in Strang's Lakside home; Anne Catherine Swanke, 22, a Uni_versity of San Diego honor stu- dent who disappeared in La Mesa on Nov. 20; and kidnapping and attempt- ing to murder Jody Santiago, 29, a Seattle woman abducted from the parking lot of an El Cajon nightclub. -

A handwriting expert says the writing on a blood-spattered note found at the scene of a double slaying "matched in every detail" that of David Allen Lucas, the man charged with the killings. The testimony by John Harris, a documents expert from Los Angeles, bolsters that given earlier this week by a San Diego Police Department technician who said the printing on the note was "probably" Lucas'. Testimony from both experts has been part of a preliminary hearing before Municipal Court Judge Her- rt Exarhos to determine whether ucas should stand trial for those ayings and the murder of real es- te saleswoman Gayle Roberta Gar- ia, 29. The police expert, David Oleksow, ad said he couldn't be sure the writ- g matched because the sample on e note was too small for a positive omparison. However, he said the hances that the writing wasn't

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In the preliminary hearing under way before Municipal Court Judge lI~rbert J. Exarhos, Lucas is charged 1th the three murders. All the vic- ims died after their throats were slashed, two so severely they were almost decapitated.