Murder Counts Dismissed but Suspect Is Rearrested

Murder charges were dismissed Wednesday in the case of a 43-year-old drifter suspected of stabbing and bludgeoning his elderly parents in their Canoga Park home and rigging their house in a failed attempt to blow it up.

After a three-hour preliminary hearing, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge James M. Coleman ruled that the prosecution had presented insufficient evidence to hold Robert L. Spitz for trial on two counts of murder.

A Los Angeles County district attorney’s office investigator immediately rearrested Spitz before he could be released from Sheriff’s Department custody.

If prosecutors refile the charges, Spitz would have a right to another preliminary hearing within 10 days. However, if no new evidence is uncovered and a judge dismisses the charges a second time, Spitz would have to be set free.

Family ‘Terrified’

Deputy Dist. Atty. Ed Consiglio said his office chose to rearrest Spitz immediately because he has a history of mental problems and the rest of the family is “terrified” of him.

According to testimony at the preliminary hearing, sheriff’s deputies discovered the bodies of Marvin Spitz, 69, and his wife, Myrtle, 68, on Feb. 27 in their home in the 24600 block of Kittridge Street.

Gas vents throughout the house were turned on, and the bodies had been surrounded by magazines and newspapers in an apparent arson attempt, Detective Jerome Beck told a reporter outside the courtroom. In addition, the gasoline caps of the two cars in the garage had been removed, and a trail of melted candle wax stretched between the vehicles, in what looked like an attempt to set the cars afire, Beck said.

Screaming Heard

Investigators said they believe that the Spitzes were killed two days before their bodies were discovered, based on statements from a neighbor who said he heard a woman screaming and a man yelling on Feb. 25.

Judge Coleman said that although the prosecution presented sufficient evidence to show that Spitz may have been near the home around the time of the killing, nothing tied him to the acts.