Investigations

Deep Throated Singing

Samuel Little: 3 Cold Case Murder Charges For Suspect Who Could Be Serial Killer -- LAPD

The LAPD announced that Samuel Little, a 72-year-old from Louisville, Kentucky, has been charged with three cold-case murders from the 1980s. Cops said in a statement that they're investigating the possibility that he could be connected to "other Los Angeles area cases." The three homicides Littl ... More >>

In-N-Out Cuts Ties With Slaughterhouse

In-N-Out will no longer use beef from a Central California slaughterhouse that is being investigated for cow abuse, the AP and the San Jose Mercury News reports. Central Valley Meat Co. of Hanford is being investigated to see if beef from sick cattle entered the human food supply. In-N-Out Burger ... More >>

Girls Paraded Before Johns in South L.A.; International Sex Trafficking Ring Busted

Los Angeles police this week say they broke up a sex trafficking ring after witnessing young girls being paraded before potential customers in the parking lot of a South L.A. motel. Really. The LAPD announced that 45-year-old Juan Chavez and 25-year-old Maritza Marroquin of L.A. were both arrested ... More >>

Trayvon Martin Gets the Shepard Fairey Treatment in Ebony Magazine

It was only a matter of time before L.A. street artist (turned international graphic-design star and Obama portraiteer) Shepard Fairey took on Trayvon. We're actually surprised it didn't happen sooner. Though there remains the sporadic rally cry for the young black Florida teen's murderer to be bro ... More >>

Redondo Beach Police Looking for Jonathan Scott Chacon as Person of Interest in Double Homicide

Two women believed to be mother and daughter were found dead in a Redondo Beach apartment this morning, and police have just named a person of interest in the killings. Redondo Beach police have launched a homicide investigation and are looking for Jonathan Scott Chacon, 23, who is thought to be th ... More >>

Corruption at Los Angeles Building and Safety

FBI probes whether a Koreatown inspector did business via cash-stuffed envelopes

Allan Munnecke's Charges Lifted by D.A. -- Rose Parade Official Arrested for Murder of Parade Volunteer Goes Free

L.A. County Sheriff's DepartmentMunnecke.​Richard Allan Munnecke, the ex-Rose Parade director suspected by sheriff's investigators of murdering a Rose Parade volunteer almost a decade ago, won't be prosecuted for the crime, says the L.A. County District Attorney's office. (At least for now.) ... More >>

Bud Ovrom, L.A. Building and Safety Manager, Accidentally Outs Himself as Scheming Media Manipulator in FBI Bribery Scandal

Building and Safety General Manager Bud Ovrom: Ignorant, or guilty?​First clue that Robert "Bud" Ovrom is unfit to hold a six-figure seat at the head of the massive L.A. Building and Safety Department? He doesn't know how to send an email. We've often wondered how a man can climb the politica ... More >>

Manuel Jamines Vigil Tonight in Westlake to (Once Again) Decry His Death by LAPD

Dennis RomeroA sign from March's protest.​Immigrants' rights advocates are still pissed off about the police shooting of Guatemalan day laborer Manuel Jamines last summer. Even after the L.A. Police Commission last month ruled that the fatal confrontation near downtown on September 5 was with ... More >>

LAPD Reopens Biggie Smalls' Case, "Actively Investigating" Notorious B.I.G. Murder Again

​The LA Weekly's news blog The Informer, quoting CNN, reports that the LAPD is once again "actively investigating" the 1997 murder of the Notorious B.I.G. According to the CNN report: A task force made up of local and federal law enforcement agencies is actively pursuing leads into the 1997 ... More >>

Jerry Brown Wants Wronfully Convicted Man Back In Jail

Attorney General Jerry Brown​ Attorney General Jerry Brown filed papers Wednesday seeking to return a man to prison who spent 26 years in jail for being wrongfully convicted of killing his mother, according to court documents. The motion, filed in U.S. District courts, requested that Bruce Li ... More >>

Investigation Into Murder Of Teen Norma Lopez Leads To Home Three Blocks From Inland Empire Field Where Her Body Was Found

Norma Lopez.​The investigation into the murder of Inland Empire teenager Norma Lopez led authorities late Tuesday to a home where a search warrant was served and a green SUV was seized, according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise. Crime scene technicians and detectives were at the Moreno Va ... More >>

Los Angeles Councilman Richard Alarcon Says He Expects To Be Indicted

​Updated with Alarcon pleading not guilty. Originally posted at 12:51 p.m. Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 18 criminal counts in connection with allegations that he lives outside his San Fernando Valley district, which would be illegal. His wife, Fl ... More >>

Quesi Chavez, L.A. Homicide No. 148: 10-year-old Girl Fatally Stabbed in San Pedro

Google Maps​A young girl that was allegedly stabbed to death by her mother on July 9 has been identified as 10-year-old Quesi Chavez, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram. Chavez's mother then reportedly stabbed herself. (See map after the jump)

Grim Sleeper Probe Expands To Determine If Suspect Lonnie Franklin Jr. Can Be Connected To Unsolved Murders

LAPDLonnie Franklin Jr.​Los Angeles police on Thursday said detectives were looking into several unsolved homicides -- all with women as the victims -- to see if they might be connected to the Grim Sleeper serial murder case. Lonnie Franklin Jr. was arrested at his home in South Los Angeles W ... More >>

Hollywood Barflies Concerned About Possible Killer On The Loose

​Some folks in the Hollywood nightlife community are concerned that a killer might be on the loose. Legman LA (via LA Observed) reports that the April death of Frolic Room doorman Gerald Thomas Andersen is still under investigation by police but that it has not been ruled a homicide. His mothe ... More >>

Secrets of Alleged Killer Cop Stephanie Lazarus to Air on 48 Hours Mystery on Saturday, May 22

This weekend CBS "48 Hours Mystery" is profiling the case of 49-year-old detective Stephanie Ilene Lazarus who was arrested for the cold-case shooting and beating death of her ex-boyfriend's wife Sherri Rae Rasmussen.Kevin ScanlonStephanie Lazarus​ Rasmussen, the director of critical care nur ... More >>

Suspect Named In Valley Village Shooting Of Four Men

ABC7Nerses Arthur Galstyan.​Authorities on Friday named 28-year-old Nerses Arthur Galstyan as the prime suspect in Valley Village restaurant attack that took the lives of four men Saturday. Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said at an afternoon news conference that Galstyan shot the men "i ... More >>

Polanski Asks Appeals Court To Probe Alleged Prosecutorial Misconduct

​Roman Polanski's lawyers filed papers this week asking the state's 2nd District appeals court to order an investigation into alleged misconduct involving a prosecutor and a judge during the 1977 Los Angeles trial in which the director was convicted of having sex with a 13-year-old girl. The ... More >>

$10 Million L.A. City Loan Benefited Developer Under Federal Investiation

Google MapsBonnie Brae Village, under construction.​The Los Angeles Housing Department was in hot water Thursday after City Controller Wendy Greuel revealed that a 2008 loan it administered benefited a developer who was under federal investigation for misusing public funds. The $10.3 million ... More >>

ACLU Calls For 'Broad' Investigation Of LAPD Shooting Of Unarmed Autistic Man

Google Maps​The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California urged the Los Angeles Police Department Tuesday to take a "broader look" at its use-of-force policy in the wake of a fatal Koreatown confrontation between gang cops and a 27-year-old autistic man. Two officers shot Steven E ... More >>

Man Pleads Guilty In Scheme To Recruit Homeless For Health Care

Skid Row.​An L.A. man pleaded guilty Tuesday to health-care fraud after he participated in a scheme to recruit homeless people on Skid Row to undergo unnecessary medical treatment that was billed to Medicare and Medi-Cal. Federal authorities say 49-year-old Vincent Rubio, former chief financi ... More >>

Under Investigation, Shepard Fairey Keeps 'Hope' Alive

​The trouble for Shepard Fairey stemming from his iconic, pre-election 'Hope' poster of President Obama continues this week: Lawyers in a civil case against him filed by the Associated Press have indicated that the Los Angeles artist is under criminal investigation in connection with the piece ... More >>

Missing British Teen 'Alive,' 'Out There,' Police Say

SMPDLeona Dawn Perryman.​Santa Monica police now say they believe missing British 19-year-old Leona Dawn Perryman is alive and probably is not the victim of foul play. Officers picked up her boyfriend, 45-year-old Paul Alfred Atkinson, Wednesday evening after he was named as a person of intere ... More >>

Alleged White Supremacist Gets Three Years For Lying To Obtain Passport In L.A.

​An alleged white supremacist practiced his anti-minority skills mostly in Nevada, but it was a little trip to one of the most diverse cities in the world that got him in hot water with federal authorities. Ross Hack, 38, drove to Los Angeles in the summer of 1998 to get a passport, and he lie ... More >>

Weathermen’s Ticking Time Bomb

The investigation into a cop killing in the ’70s leads to a Chicago law professor involved in the early stages of Barack Obama’s political career

Official: Station Fire Was Arson

Several news outlets, including City News Service and the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, are reporting official findings confirming that the Station Fire was deliberately set. Reports the Trib: "At an evening briefing, officials said they made the determination after a forensic examination of the ... More >>

Murder Was the Case: L.A. Homicide No. 175, Teenager Found Murdered Downtown

Lily Belle Burk, 17, was found dead in the passenger seat of her black Volvo 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning. View Larger Map The teenager had left her home in Los Feliz at 2 p.m. to pick up some papers for her mother at Southwestern University School of Law in the Westlake area. Burk had called each of ... More >>

LAPD Cop, Alleged Murderess Stephanie Lazarus, Picked Up By One of Her Own

KNX News RadioSherri Rae RasmussenAll eyes were on Los Angeles Police Department Chief Bill Bratton today after news broke that 49-year-old detective Stephanie Ilene Lazarus was arrested for the cold-case shooting and beating death of her ex-boyfriend's wife Sherri Rae Rasmussen. As one television ... More >>

Murder was the Case: LA Homicide No. 120, Woman Found Stabbed to Death in Reseda Home

The body of a Hispanic woman who had been stabbed to death was found today in her Reseda apartment by her brother. Los Angeles Police Department officers responded to a 911 call at 2:51 p.m. to an apartment in the 7600 block of Reseda Boulevard. Paramedics later pronounced her dead at the scene - ... More >>

A Pasadena Author Researching Jogging Trails Cracks an Old Serial-Killer Case

Weston Dewalt's amazing year

Who's Sorry Now?

Andy Thomas eats crow to save his political career, but wants an apology to Sheriff Joe

They See Dead People

For 1,000 murder victims, a new LAPD cold-case unit finally seeks justice

The Steve and Bob Show

Ex-D.A. Philibosian has a good friend in Cooley

Brent Shapiro’s Final Hours

Dirty Little Secrets

Bush’s Homeland Security czar Mike Chertoff and his days in New Jersey

Bush Rope #1

The Cheney Connection

Tracing the Halliburton money trail to Nigeria

Fast Justice

Lessons from New York’s handling of a police shooting

Special Privileges

Behind the Robes

Pondering the secrets Cardinal Mahony might hold about the Catholic sex scandal

Ill-Suited for War

If the Bush administration is right about Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons, why is it sending American troops into battle so unprepared?

No One To Tell

FBI whistle blower gets turned away

SAG Settles With Christy

Liberation Politics

Mexico’s long-imprisoned general is released from jail

Spiked in Hollywood

Dave Robb walks away — again

On the Take

INS special agent convicted of smuggling immigrants for $300

Tarnished Brass

Case against LAPD captain doesn't address Rampart's big questions