GUILTY CA - Sam Herr, 26, & Julie Kibuishi, 23, murdered, Los Alamitos, 21 May 2010

[JoeFromLB]

BREAKING: Two more arrests in decapitation murder case.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lan...tation-killing-of-college-student-friend.html

 

[JoeFromLB]

http://articles.dailypilot.com/2012...uishi-samuel-herr-camden-martinique-apartment

Those arrested are not believed to have participated in or planned the murders, said Costa Mesa police Lt. Paul Dondero.

"Someone had the opportunity to contact the police or knew there was evidence of a crime and failed to do so," Dondero said of the arrested suspects.

Wozniak's preliminary hearing was set to take place Friday, but his public defender, Scott Sanders, said in a Newport Beach courtroom that he was not prepared because he received 76 pieces of video evidence last month and wasn't able to watch all of the footage.

Both Judge Stephanie George and Herr's parents voiced frustration with another delay in the process for a preliminary hearing, a judicial stage when a judge determines if there is enough evidence to move the case to trial.

 

[JoeFromLB]

The defendant's brother and a woman have been charged with being accessories to murder. Prosecutors are tight-lipped about the details, saying they don't want to jeopardize the case if there may be more suspects.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lan...her-ex-girlfriend-charged-as-accessories.html

"Timothy Wozniak was released on $20,000 bail, but Golledge remained in jail on $70,500 bail on additional charges relating to a traffic offense and abandonment and neglect of a child, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department."

 

[JoeFromLB]

Preliminary hearing postponed until May 25, 2012.

https://ocapps.occourts.org/Vision_Public/SearchCase.do

Case number: 10HF0920

This is pretty much the norm for death penalty cases in California; three to five years for final disposition. Then a 30-year wait on Death Row. At least.

 

[JoeFromLB]

The grand jury indicted Daniel Wozniak last Thursday on two counts of murder, special circumstances. There will be no need for a preliminary hearing.
Wozniak pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. He has been in jail for two years, awaiting trial.

http://www.ocregister.com/news/herr-352676-wozniak-beach.html

May 4, 2012

The Orange County grand jury indicted Wozniak Thursday in the slayings, prompting another arraignment. He has been held without bail since his arrest and pleading not guilty to the same charges filed by county prosecutors in 2010, who are seeking the death penalty. An indictment eliminates the need for a preliminary hearing to test the evidence and speeds the case along to a court trial.

The indictment is "long overdue but glad it is happening," said Herr's father, Steve. "If it can expedite the trial, all the better."

Wozniak, dressed in mustard-colored jail clothing with stubble on his face, entered the not guilty plea through his defense attorneys.

He case was assigned to Superior Court Judge James Stotler with a trial setting conference set for May 25.

"If there's a case for keeping the death penalty in the state, this is it," Steve Herr said after the less than five-minute hearing.

 

[JoeFromLB]

Actor said of 2 slayings, 'I'm crazy and I did it,' transcripts show

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lan...fessed-to-slayings-im-crazy-and-i-did-it.html

A community theater actor accused of killing two friends in an elaborate plot to frame one for the other's murder confessed to police immediately after his arrest, according to a grand jury transcript made public Friday.

“I'm crazy, and I did it,” Daniel Patrick Wozniak, 28, told a Costa Mesa detective after the 2010 killings, according to the testimony.

 

[JoeFromLB]

BREAKING: Suspected killer's ex-fiancee arrested in O.C. double slaying

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/11/fiancee-arrested-orange-county-double-murder.html

November 21, 2012

The former fiancee of a community theater actor charged in the double slaying of an Orange Coast College student and his tutor has been arrested by Costa Mesa police.

Rachel Buffett, 25, of Long Beach was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of being an accessory to murder after the fact and is being held on $1-million bail, according to police.

Police said Buffett remained a suspect during the two-year investigation. "She was never out of our focus," Costa Mesa Police Lt. Paul Dondero told the Daily Pilot. "She's always been in focus, along with other aspects of the case."

Authorities did not detail her alleged involvement in the killings.

 

[gm8549]

Yikes is all I can say.

 

[JoeFromLB]

Yikes is all I can say.

Absolutely.

Wozniak himself has some sort of hearing scheduled for December 14.
I hope the trial will get underway soon. It has been two-and-a-half years since his arrest. It's a death penalty case, and those can take several years to come to trial, easily.

 

[i.b.nora]

Maybe eventually we will get to learn how she and any other extra people play into it. Such a bizarre crime. As I recall, they arrested him at a dinner, the night before they were going to get married. Thanks for continuing to follow up on this case.

 

[rosesfromangels]

This one has me...:furious:

http://www.ocweekly.com/2011-06-02/news/moxley-confidential-daniel-wozniak-samuel-herr/

The actor and double-murder defendant's appearance on MSNBC's 'Lockup' has one victim's dad crying foul

A freshly groomed 6-foot-2-inch Daniel Patrick Wozniak smiles tenderly into a television camera and utters what could have been a personal greeting for a video-dating ad. "I'm easygoing," says Wozniak, 28. "I enjoy long walks on the beach."

Orange County's most infamous professional actor adds with an even bigger smile and a disarming chuckle, "I'm an Aries."

There's no hint of anger or madness in Wozniak's presentation. If it weren't for the stark institutional backdrop and his orange smock, you might assume he's a funny, harmless guy.

"I just want people to know that no matter what, throughout all of this, I'm really a good guy," he continues during an episode of MSNBC's Lockup: Extended Stay Orange County Jail. "Almost everyone in my life will say so."

The "this" Wozniak cited is a double murder that included the gruesome decapitation and dismemberment of Samuel Herr, a 26-year-old former U.S. Army soldier who served in combat in Afghanistan before enrolling at Orange Coast College.

Sounds like Ted Bundy....a complete sociopath.

 

[JoeFromLB]

Wozniak's ex-fiancee has implicated him in a jailhouse interview:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/12/orange-county-double-murder.html

 

[fran]

Wozniak's ex-fiancee has implicated him in a jailhouse interview:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/12/orange-county-double-murder.html

If you can locate this article in another media outlet, could you please provide a link here. The LA Times is making it hard to read their stuff. You have to subscribe.

TIA
fran

 

[JoeFromLB]

If you can locate this article in another media outlet, could you please provide a link here. The LA Times is making it hard to read their stuff. You have to subscribe.

TIA
fran

Here you go. I get the Times delivered, and didn't realize the site was only available to subscribers. Here's the original article from another local paper. It's owned by the Times, so I hope you can see it. I excerpted the relevant part.

http://www.dailypilot.com/news/tn-dpt-1207-buffett-interview-20121207,0,2566259.story

Hours before he played the romantic lead in a play opposite his real-life fiancee, authorities allege Daniel Patrick Wozniak shot and killed his neighbor.

Not long after that performance, he slipped out of the Costa Mesa apartment he shared with his then-fiancée, Rachel Buffett, 25, and allegedly killed the first victim's tutor, according to police, prosecutors and Buffett's account of events.

Authorities say that when they questioned Buffett, she lied to protect Wozniak, 28. More than two years after the May 2010 crimes, she was charged with being an accessory to murder after the fact.

It is a charge she disputed in a recent jailhouse interview with the Daily Pilot.

"I'm innocent, and he's guilty, and he confessed to that," she said, explaining that Wozniak allegedly told her that he told police he killed the two victims.

 

[i.b.nora]

The LA Times website works for me and I am not a subscriber. It might have to do with how many articles a month a non-subscriber can view. Many of the news sites are doing that. Maybe I haven't hit a limit yet.

Anyhow, thanks for posting both links.

 

[i.b.nora]

She says:

"She said she's always been honest and forth-coming with police and doesn't understand why she is now facing felony charges and a possible prison sentence of more than three years.

"You go over it in your mind, 'How could I possibly give someone wrong information?' " she said. "I was trying to be helpful and give them every conception in my mind."

Police, however, say their investigation, which included interviews with Buffett and multiple witnesses, indicates she wasn't truthful.

"She told us a story we know not to be true," said Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Ed Everett. "We waited that long basically because we didn't want to prematurely arrest her for accessory and find out she was complicit in the homicides.""

More...

 

[i.b.nora]

The Daily Pilot article is quite good.

I don't get a truthfulness hit from her, based partly on what the police had to say and based on this: "Buffett described herself as a home-schooled, "sheltered" Christian. The Bible passage that speaks to her most is Psalms 23, which begins, "The Lord is my shepherd."" A home-schooled 'sheltered' Christian, living with her boyfriend, working as an actor. She's shifty, IMO.

 

[JoeFromLB]

Rachel Buffett is ordered to stand trial, after a preliminary hearing today.
She will be arraigned on December 26.

Just a few days ago she was released on bail and loudly proclaimed her innocence.

A jury will now get to decide that question.

http://www.presstelegram.com/news/c...each-woman-charged-murder-dismemberment-stand

 

[JoeFromLB]

Sad news...the lead detective on the case against Wozniak was killed in a single car accident on the 55 freeway. He was off duty when his car slammed into a concrete pillar under an overpass.

http://www.scpr.org/news/2013/03/07/36256/off-duty-costa-mesa-detective-who-died-in-solo-cra/

 

[JoeFromLB]

A judge has denied Rachel Buffett's motion to dismiss charges of accessory to murder. No word on when her trial will be held.

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2013/06/daniel_wozniak_rachel_mae_buff.php

Wozniak himself is awaiting trial. He has some sort of hearing scheduled for August 9th and remains jailed without bond.