Suspect Charged in Death at Van Nuys Spa
The district attorney’s office on Monday filed a manslaughter charge against a 20-year-old Van Nuys man accused of the strangulation death of a Woodland Hills man last September in what police describe as a gay health spa.
Harry James Silk, an unemployed laborer who was arrested Friday, will be arraigned Tuesday in Van Nuys Municipal Court, said Los Angles Police Detective Ed Entwhistle. Silk is being held in Van Nuys Jail in lieu of $6,000 bail, he said.
The body of Roland Brown, 36, a waiter at a Tarzana restaurant, was found Sept. 4 at the Roman Holiday Health Club on Victory Boulevard in Van Nuys, Entwhistle said. The coroner’s office determined that Brown was strangled, Entwhistle said.
Entwhistle said police were able to find Silk by checking signature cards of club patrons present at the time of the slaying.
The motive for the slaying has not been determined, Entwhistle said.
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