Homicide Detectives

Los Angeles Police Department detectives buried under an avalanche of homicides in South and Central L.A. during the early 1990s felt something was unfair -- morally wrong, even -- in the way the department handled murders in these areas. Investigators said they suspected they had higher caseloads but had little proof. A Times analysis shows they were right: Workloads for South Los Angeles detectives were nearly 30% higher than those of their West L.A.

Sheriff's homicide detectives are appealing for the public's help in identifying those responsible for the slaying of a 20-year-old Bell Gardens man shot outside his home early Sunday. Alan Melchor was hit shortly after 2 a.m. by gunfire from a blue van southbound on Scott Avenue, Sheriff's Sgt. Harry Van said.

A former longtime homicide detective was named San Francisco's top law enforcement officer, replacing a chief who had come under harsh criticism for failing to solve enough of the city's violent crimes. Mayor Willie Brown named Assistant Police Chief Earl Sanders, a 37-year veteran, to the post, replacing Fred Lau, who stepped down to take a job in airport security.

In a sheriff's squad room in Commerce, justice deferred takes the form of office clutter. Crowding the desks are thick stacks of brown accordion files--notes on open homicide cases, part of a growing trend of unsolved murders. Each represents a life lost, a family bereaved, a killer gone free. "They sit at your feet," said Sgt. Delores Scott, a Los Angeles County sheriff's detective. "You are reminded of them on a daily basis."

A hiker in the foothills near Fillmore found the body of a man between the ages of 30 and 40 floating in Sespi Creek on Saturday morning, Ventura County sheriff's officials said. Homicide detectives at the scene were treating the case as a suspicious death. They described the man as heavyset with a 4- to 5-inch beard and long brown hair pulled back into a pony tail. He was wearing a green jacket, green shirt, faded blue pants and white tennis shoes.

Sheriff's homicide investigators released a sketch Wednesday of a man who, along with an accomplice, is wanted in the killing Saturday of an elementary school teacher in her Compton home. But Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Ray Peavy said deputies have revised their view that Kathryn Dawson, 68, was killed during a robbery. "It's difficult to find anything missing, so we're up against the wall on this," in determining a motive, Peavy said.

It's not as if the homicide detectives can haul their current suspect into an interrogation room, or sweat the culprit like so many others, offering a deal in exchange for a confession or catching the perpetrator in a web of lies. This time, the "suspect" in the LAPD investigation is an apartment complex--the aging Echo Park building that suddenly collapsed early Dec. 8, killing one tenant and injuring 36.

Pasadena jurors in the capital murder trial of pediatrician Kevin Anderson on Monday heard him describe on tape how he strangled a pregnant colleague and then attempted to make her death look like a traffic accident. Deputy Dist. Atty. Marian M.J. Thompson played a taped Sheriff's Department interview in which the prominent Pasadena doctor described in a calm, businesslike manner how he killed Dr. Deepti Gupta on Nov.

Two men were killed in a shooting at a liquor store Wednesday night, authorities said. The shooting occurred about 7 p.m. at F & M Liquors, 905 Avenue R East, near the Sierra Highway, according to Deputy Valentine Rosario of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Rosario said authorities had scant information on the killings, adding that homicide detectives were en route to the scene late Wednesday.

Two men were killed in a shooting at a liquor store Wednesday night, authorities said. The shooting happened about 7 p.m. at F&M Liquors, located at 905 Avenue R East, near the Sierra Highway, said Sheriff's Deputy Valentine Rosario. Rosario said authorities had scant information on the killings, adding that homicide detectives were en route to the scene late Wednesday.