Slain Man Is Identified as Missing Studio City Artist

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 execution style, Los Angeles police said Tuesday.

The body of Gary Abrams, 35, was found at about 10:50 p.m. on Sept. 3 in Fontana, shortly after his friend and employer, Marshall E. Brevetz, was found shot to death in the El Sereno section of Los Angeles.

Abrams, bound and gagged, was taken from a vehicle in the 10700 block of Oleander Avenue and shot several times in the upper body, said Fontana Police Capt. Sam Scott.

Upon hearing gunshots and the sound of a vehicle, custodians at an elementary school across the street investigated and found the body, Scott said.

There was no identification on the body and it was not until late Monday night that Los Angeles police identified it as Abrams’ through photographs and fingerprints, Los Angeles police Lt. Jim Duke said.

Brevetz, 47, owner of Framed Art Posters in Studio City, was found shot to death in El Sereno at about 9:15 p.m. on Sept. 3.

Abrams and Brevetz were last seen on that afternoon leaving the poster store, Duke said.

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

Earlier, police said they were investigating the possibility that Brevetz’s killing and Abrams’ disappearance were drug-related.

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.

Police are still looking for Brevetz’s car, a mid-1970s reddish-orange BMW with no license plate, Duke said.