AltWeeklies Wire
The Chiller Killernew
Michael Gargiulo, accused of killing Ashton Kutcher's girlfriend and other L.A. beauties, got close as the helpful air-conditioning repairman.
L.A. Weekly |
Christine Pelisek |
11-24-2010 |
Crime & Justice
Rodney Alcala's Final Revenge: Alleged Serial Killer Ratchets Up the Sufferingnew
In letters to him, Bruce Barcomb compared Rodney Alcala to notorious serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy, and begged him to spare the victims' relatives from a painful trial — including Barcomb's own elderly mother, who was undergoing chemotherapy.
L.A. Weekly |
Christine Pelisek |
02-26-2010 |
Crime & Justice
One Man's Murderous Romp Through Polite Societynew
Rodney Alcala, the UCLA fine-arts grad, former Los Angeles Times typesetter, amateur photographer and film student of Roman Polanski's is believed to have used his charm and access to entrap and murder seven women and girls, and to rape several others.
L.A. Weekly |
Christine Pelisek |
01-22-2010 |
Crime & Justice
LAPD Audit: New Chief Releases a Report Showing Broad Mismanagementnew
The city may not be as safe as the 1950s like Bill Bratton often boasted, but apparently the bookkeeping by the Los Angeles Police Department is “stuck” in that decade, and a new and embarrassing audit is roiling City Hall—by explaining how bad things really are.
L.A. Weekly |
Patrick Range McDonald and Christine Pelisek |
12-18-2009 |
Economy
L.A.'s Medical-Weed Warsnew
Today Los Angeles stands as the nation's pot capital, a mecca for buying and selling the drug under the guise of the medicinal use initiative California voters approved 13 years ago. The conditions are testament to a breakdown in basic governance unseen in any other major California city.
L.A. Weekly |
Patrick Range McDonald and Christine Pelisek |
11-30-2009 |
Drugs
Chaos in the Casitas: Lawless Speakeasies Get a Grip on L.A.new
The casitas operate in what appear to be shuttered, recession-emptied storefronts or hollowed-out homes. But inside, patrons can get almost anything they want, in a one-stop shop: drugs, gambling, heisted cigarettes, after-hours booze and "B-girls" -- slang for "bar" girls, or prostitutes, who charge about $60 for sex.
L.A. Weekly |
Christine Pelisek |
11-09-2009 |
Crime & Justice
The Assassination of Deputy Abel Escalantenew
A young father had nothing to do with LAPD's killing of Danny Leon last year. The 27-year-old officer most likely heard about it on the news, like everyone else. But, federal prosecutors believe, Escalante died for it.
L.A. Weekly |
Christine Pelisek |
10-16-2009 |
Crime & Justice
How LAPD's 'Closers' Nabbed A Serial Killer Known as The Westside Rapistnew
In a long-shot quest to find one prominent serial killer, police instead found another. Through tantalizing coincidences and teamwork that tapped the memories of long-retired cops, LAPD found the The Westside Rapist, a man who had slipped away from the cops in 1957 and went on to terrorize elderly women in Southern California for a generation.
L.A. Weekly |
Christine Pelisek |
07-24-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Why Los Angeles Crime-Fighters Fell Years Behind on Rape Testingnew
Experts have suggested a stunning possibility: that 500,000 rape kits, given low priority by scores of police departments, have been sitting untested for years.
L.A. Weekly |
Christine Pelisek |
03-20-2009 |
Crime & Justice
A Tough Churchgoing Mom Is at the Center of the Los Angeles Serial-Killer Mysterynew
L.A.’s elusive Grim Sleeper has murdered with impunity for 23 years. The strange journey of his only surviving victim began with a rape and shooting that at the time seemed tragically commonplace.
L.A. Weekly |
Christine Pelisek |
03-13-2009 |
Crime & Justice
A New 'Ban' Would Allow 20 Areas Citywide Thick With Billboardsnew
The Los Angeles city planning department’s proposed outdoor-advertising rules and billboard ban is not much of a ban at all.
L.A. Weekly |
Christine Pelisek |
01-30-2009 |
Housing & Development
LA's Digital Billboards Become a Bohemian Blasphemynew
The neighborhoods of Silver Lake, Hollywood, the Valley and Westside are all taking on City Hall's anti-green transformation of Los Angeles.
L.A. Weekly |
Christine Pelisek |
11-21-2008 |
Environment
The Grim Sleeper is Murdering Angelenos as Cops Hunt His DNAnew
The most elusive serial killer west of the Mississippi took a 13-year break. Now he's back.
L.A. Weekly |
Christine Pelisek |
08-29-2008 |
Crime & Justice
The Death of Raven, a Hollywood Beautynew
LA's noir streets made her the star of her own tragedy, then took it all away.
L.A. Weekly |
Christine Pelisek |
06-20-2008 |
Culture
Manson Clan Body Dig Underwaynew
Law enforcement agencies and scientists, shadowed at a distance by a small army of local and international reporters, descended on Barker Ranch this month in hopes of getting to the bottom of a persistent rumor that Manson Family murder victims are buried there.
L.A. Weekly |
Christine Pelisek |
05-27-2008 |
History
