L.A. Weekly | Christine Pelisek | News | Crime & Justice | AAN.org

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

Tags: Ashton Kutcher, Ashley Ellerin, Michael Gargiulo

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

Tags: Rodney Alcala, Jill Barcomb, Robin Samsoe

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

Tags: Rodney Alcala, women, crime, murder

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

Tags: after-hours clubs, casitas, Prostitution, Los Angeles, crime, gambling, underground economies

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

Tags: Abel Escalante, Danny Leon, Los Angeles, crime, gangs, LAPD

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

Tags: crime, serial killers, homicide, LAPD, police work

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

Tags: LAPD, rape kit testing, Sarah Tofte

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

Tags: serial killers, Grim Sleeper, Enietra Margette