Bloodied Crowbar Found at Murder Suspect’s Home

MAYER, ARIZ. — A search of the country club home of John Joseph Famalaro--who has been charged with the murder of Denise Huber, a former Northridge woman--turned up a bloodied crowbar Tuesday that police consider a possible murder weapon.

Still fearing other victims, authorities were successful in tracking down at least five of nine women in Southern California and Phoenix whose names appeared on a list seized at Famalaro’s home. Detectives planned to appeal for the public’s help today in locating the remainder of the names on the list, which included Huber’s.

Court documents filed Tuesday in Arizona indicated that police have seized numerous items from Famalaro’s home, including articles of women’s clothing, some of which appear to be stained with blood, a blood-tainted tarpaulin and the crowbar that police suspect might be the murder weapon.

Robert Shoults, whose wife, Gloria, was on the list, expressed surprise because their only connection with Famalaro was that they had sold him a van two years ago.

The police, who called to check on Gloria’s well-being, “said that her name had turned up on some papers they had found,” said Shoults, of Dewey, Ariz. “Having somebody like that in your neighborhood I guess does make your hair stand up a little bit, because this is generally a quiet area.”

The revelations came days after the body of Huber, 23 at the time of her disappearance, was found in a freezer in the back of a stolen rental truck parked in Famalaro’s driveway. Huber, who had moved to Newport Beach, vanished three years ago after she became stranded on the Corona Del Mar Freeway after a flat tire. Famalaro, 37, is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Huber was believed to have been bludgeoned to death, and a crowbar would be consistent with the type of weapon used, authorities said.

In other developments Tuesday:

* Authorities, who have not ruled out additional suspects, said they want to question Famalaro’s brother-in-law, Duane Thobe, and Famalaro’s brother, Warren, in connection with the case. Warren Famalaro is a convicted child molester.

* Police concluded a comprehensive search of Famalaro’s home, and expanded their search in Orange County, where Famalaro had rented several storage lockers and kept the freezer before moving to Arizona. Using axes, rakes and shovels, authorities Tuesday dug as far down as 10 feet below the surface in three areas of Famalaro’s home where cadaver-sniffing dogs had signaled the possible presence of something, but no new bodies were discovered.

Police visited at least three storage facilities in Orange County Tuesday. Costa Mesa Det. Sgt. Jerry Holloway said investigators “are finding some items of evidence that we can use,” but he declined to elaborate. Investigators have also learned that people had been curious about the Ryder truck and the extension cord running to it, but that when neighbors and acquaintances of Famalaro asked what was in the the freezer, he would reply: “Meat.”

* Investigators are focusing on reconstructing how Famalaro and Huber may have come into contact the night of her disappearance, June 3, 1991, and his movements since. Although police said Tuesday they believe she was killed in Orange County shortly after her abduction and then transported via freezer, it may be difficult to fix a time and place of death because of the condition of her body.

The freezer was purchased June 10,1991, a week after Huber disappeared, at a Montgomery Ward & Co. store in Orange County, according to documents filed by the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office.

Investigators are unable to explain why the corpse would have been carted around for years after the crime.

“That’s what makes this case bizarre--the way he moves a body around like this,” said Costa Mesa police Lt. Ron Smith. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Piecing together what little they have, police suspect Huber was killed, stored in the freezer in a Laguna Hills storage bin for a year, then moved to a San Clemente storage facility, where it was kept in about a year and a half, before being transported to Famalaro’s Prescott Country Club home.

* Law enforcement sources alternately discounted and were intrigued by the theory that Famalaro may have lured Huber to her death by posing as a law enforcement officer. Two phony Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department shirts were among the numerous items seized from his home. Both shirts had hand-made replicas of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s official patches sewn on them.

Costa Mesa’s Lt. Smith said he thought Huber was “too smart to fall for such a thing.”

“One thing that weighs against that theory is that it’s very unusual to have a uniformed officer with long hair and a beard,” Smith said, adding that everyone police have interviewed said Famalaro has sported a beard and mustache for years.

Other law enforcement sources found the bogus-police theory credible, as did Huber’s family.

“I couldn’t believe that Denise would get in a car with a stranger,” Ione Huber, Denise’s mother, said. “This makes sense. She would trust someone in a uniform.”

Discovery of the list of names initially fueled speculation that the murder of Huber could be one in a string of multiple killings.

“This case is far from over,” said Yavapai County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Laurie Berra. “We have to make sure we don’t have additional victims.”

Famalaro’s attorney, Lawrence William Katz, attacked the strength of the case against his client and the media coverage.

“We don’t have a serial killer here,” Katz said. “This coverage has been completely overdone.”

Katz said he fully expects a grand jury to indict Famalaro by Thursday. He vowed that he would immediately seek to overturn the indictment on the basis that excessive publicity has compromised the grand jury--the same tactic used by O.J. Simpson’s lawyers in his murder case.

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Times staff writers Anna Cekola, Leslie Berkman, Michael Granberry, Greg Hernandez, Matt Lait, Mark Landsbaum, David Reyes, Rebecca Trounson and Jodi Wilgoren and correspondents Bob Elston, Shelby Grad and Jeffrey Bean contributed to this report.