Val Verde Estate

Val Verde real estate agent Paula Harrington, who was kidnaped two months ago by a man posing as a customer, has quit her job--at least temporarily. Harrington, 26, said she is devoting more time to her family and has gone back to college. She also is undergoing therapy. Harrington was abducted at gunpoint June 29 while showing houses to a man later identified by authorities as Timothy Daniel Shue, 39. Two days later, she was found tied up in an Arizona motel room.

GIVEN THE RAVAGES OF TIME AND OWNERSHIP, many of Montecito's great estate gardens, most built in the early part of the century, survive only as stunning fragments. Not so Val Verde, home of Dr. Warren Austin, who began restoring the 17-acre grounds 40 years ago and has maintained them ever since. The oaks are taller now, the walls and paths weathered to an elegant patina.

A man arrested in Utah who is suspected of kidnaping and sexually assaulting a Val Verde real estate agent has been transported to Los Angeles, where a federal grand jury is expected to hear accusations against him next week, officials said Thursday. Timothy Daniel Shue, 38, is in federal custody without bail while prosecutors assemble their case and try to secure an indictment from the grand jury, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Debra Yang.

A Val Verde real estate agent who was abducted last week by a man posing as a prospective home buyer identified her kidnaper Saturday through police mug shots and credited "faith, humor and hope" with getting her through the three-day ordeal. Paula Harrington was found tied up Friday morning in a Gila Bend motel room, 68 miles southwest of Phoenix. She said she had felt no fear while showing the man five homes in the Val Verde area Wednesday. But at the last house, he turned on her.

A man suspected of kidnaping and sexually assaulting a Val Verde real estate agent is likely to be transferred from Utah, where he was apprehended, to Los Angeles to face federal charges, authorities said Thursday. Timothy Daniel Shue, 38, will appear in federal court in Salt Lake City today where he will have the opportunity to challenge efforts to extradite him to California, said his court-appointed attorney, Reid Lambert. If Shue resists, prosecutors seeking extradition would have to convince a federal judge or grand jury that there is probable cause he committed the kidnaping.

A man suspected of kidnaping and assaulting a Val Verde real estate agent was arrested early Wednesday morning at a topless club in Ogden, Utah, when he allegedly displayed a handgun to one of the dancers, authorities said. Timothy Daniel Shue, 26, is accused of abducting Paula Harrington, 26, at gunpoint June 29 by posing as a prospective home buyer. She was found three days later tied to a bed in a motel in Gila Bend, Ariz., about 70 miles southwest of Phoenix.

Timothy Daniel Shue, accused of kidnaping and raping a Val Verde real estate agent last week, Friday waived his right to fight extradition from Utah, where he was apprehended. Shue, 38, could be back in Los Angeles as early as Monday, according to a prosecutor assigned to the case. If convicted, Shue could face life in prison without parole. He is wanted in several other states on similar charges, but California will get the first chance at convicting him. Shue, a resident of Cadillac, Mich.

A Michigan man pleaded not guilty in federal court Monday to kidnaping a Val Verde real estate agent at gunpoint and leaving her tied up in an Arizona motel room two days later. The man, Timothy Daniel Shue, 38, is accused of kidnaping Paula Harrington, 26, after posing as a prospective customer at the real estate office where she worked.

Val Verde has its very own version of the Brooklyn Bridge--only in this case it really is for sale. Eager buyers have been turning up lately at auctions to buy a piece of hilly land known as Tract 890, which was subdivided into hundreds of tiny lots in the early 1930s and marketed as ripe for oil speculation.

A Val Verde real estate agent abducted Wednesday was found tied up in an Arizona motel room Friday morning after a maid heard her cries and summoned help, witnesses and authorities said. Paula Harrington, 26, disappeared after showing several homes in the small Santa Clarita Valley community to an unidentified male customer Wednesday afternoon. She was locked in Room 8 of the El Coronado Motel in Gila Bend about 10 a.m.