Maid to Be Tried for Murder in Slaying of TV Producer

The maid of slain television producer Herbert Wallerstein, who told police she killed him in self-defense after he struck her, was ordered Wednesday to stand trial for murder.

Van Nuys Municipal Court Judge James M. Coleman said he believed the evidence pointed more toward manslaughter than murder. But the judge said jurors might view the evidence differently and conclude that the maid used excessive force when she beat Wallerstein and that her actions amounted to murder.

In a tape-recorded interview with police played during her two-day preliminary hearing, Mayra Melendez Lopez, 25, said Wallerstein flew into a rage for no apparent reason on Sept. 27 and knocked her to the ground. She said he hit her again when she tried to get up and that she believed he intended to kill her.

Lopez said on the tape that she struck Wallerstein with a baseball bat three or four times, then placed his body in his car. She and her boyfriend, who has not been located, drove the car several blocks and abandoned it in a residential neighborhood, she said.

Two days later, the car was set on fire and Wallerstein’s body was recovered from the burning vehicle.

Lopez said her boyfriend started the fire to eliminate traces of his fingerprints, but a witness said she saw Lopez walking from the direction of the car minutes before it burst into flames.

Lopez at first denied any involvement in the death, but called police two months later and related her story. Deputy Dist. Atty. Norman F. Montrose said he doubted the veracity of Lopez’s account of the fight, but has no evidence to contradict it.

Lopez will be arraigned Jan. 29 in Van Nuys Superior Court. She is being held without bail.