The State - News from April 13, 1986

A former Marin County bank executive has testified that he didn’t mean to kill a 19-year-old prostitute last June when they engaged in a bathtub bondage episode. Leslie Arthur Byrd, accused of first-degree murder in the death of Cynthia Engstrom, acknowledged being responsible for the woman’s death, but he said it was an accident. Engstrom died of suffocation. Prosecutors contend that the killing was part of a fantasy that Byrd had discussed with other prostitutes. At the time of the incident, his wife and children were away at a Girl Scout camp.