Murder Victim Identified as Associate of Slain Man

The body of a man found shot to death in a Fontana field last week has been identified as that of a Studio City artist who disappeared with an associate, who also was found slain gangland style, Los Angeles police said Tuesday.

The bound and gagged body of Gary Abrams, 35, was discovered about 10:50 p.m. on Sept. 3. His friend and employer, Marshall E. Brevetz, was found shot to death about 9:15 p.m. the same day in the El Sereno area of Los Angeles. The artist’s body was not identified until late Monday.

Brevetz, 47, owner of Framed Art Posters in Studio City, and Abrams were last seen on the afternoon of Sept. 3 leaving the poster store, Los Angeles Police Lt. Jim Duke said.

Police have not named any suspects. Investigators are unsure of a motive, Duke said.

Brevetz, a former recording studio owner and business manager for entertainers, was paroled in 1983 after serving 15 months of a three-year sentence for possession of cocaine for sale.

Kathryn Owens, a friend of Brevetz, said earlier that Brevetz had telephoned another friend the night of his disappearance and reported that he needed $30,000 to pay a group of Colombian drug traffickers.

“I need to get 30 grand for these people by tonight or I’m a dead man,” Owens quoted Brevetz as telling the unidentified friend.