Convict Admits Killing of Canoga Park Man

Aformer prison escapee has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 1984 killing of a 31-year-old Canoga Park man, a prosecutor said.

Kenneth J. Lundien, 28, entered the plea in Los Angeles Municipal Court Tuesday prior to a preliminary hearing to review charges in the Jan. 27, 1984, killing of Kenneth L. Roman, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Steven M. Barshop.

Roman, a mechanic for the Rocketdyne division of Rockwell International Corp. in Canoga Park, was shot in the head and dumped in a creekbed in Ventura County, Barshop said.

The slaying occurred two days after Lundien and Robert Latimer, 25, broke out of prison in Arizona, where they were awaiting a robbery trial, Barshop said. Barshop said the two men killed Roman after kidnaping him, robbing him and stealing his car.

Latimer, who allegedly shot Roman, was killed in an April, 1984, shoot-out with FBI agents in Knoxville, Tenn., Barshop said. Lundien was arrested in New York City in March, 1984.

Lundien is scheduled for sentencing on June 25, Barshop said. He could could receive a state prison term of 25 years to life.

Barshop said Lundien was extradited to Los Angeles from a Marion, Ill., federal penitentiary, where he was serving a 20-year term for wounding an FBI agent in a gun battle in Virginia. After his sentence is pronounced in Los Angeles, he probably will be extradited to Arizona for trial on robbery charges, Barshop said.