Friend Admits Helping Meier Kill His Mother

A 19-year-old Woodland Hills youth from a “very religious” family admitted in court Monday that he helped Torran Lee Meier strangle Meier’s mother and attempt to kill his 8-year-old half brother.

In an agreement with prosecutors, Matthew A. Jay pleaded guilty in Van Nuys Superior Court to second-degree murder in the October, 1985, death of Shirley A. Rizk of Canoga Park, and to attempted murder in the attack on Rory Rizk.

He had been charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder. Jay faces a maximum of 22 years to life in state prison when he is sentenced Feb. 10.

Jay, whose mother is an Episcopalian priest and whose father is a schoolteacher, had a “serious drug abuse problem” at the time of the crimes, his attorney, Elliot E. Stanford, said in an interview.

Jay had been consuming excessive amounts of marijuana, cocaine and alcohol since early 1984, and was under the influence the night of the murder, Stanford said.

‘Aberration in His Life’

“This event, from everything I know about Matt Jay . . . was a complete aberration in his life,” the attorney said. “Nothing involving law enforcement will ever happen again with this young man.

“This represents a single mistake that he’s made in his life.”

Stanford described Jay’s family as religious and said family members are distraught over his involvement in the crimes.

Jay’s guilty plea concluded the prosecution of the three youths involved in the killing. According to police, the three took turns strangling Shirley Rizk, then attempted to poison Rory Rizk after he witnessed the slaying. The three then placed Rory in a car with the body of his mother, set the car on fire and pushed it over a Malibu cliff. The boy escaped unharmed.

Meier’s two co-conspirators admitted guilt to more serious offenses than he was convicted of by a jury in June.

The jury, after hearing testimony that Shirley Rizk verbally abused Meier throughout his life, found the 17-year-old guilty of voluntary manslaughter, attempted voluntary manslaughter and two counts of conspiracy to commit voluntary manslaughter.

Youth Authority Sentence

Meier was sentenced last month to the California Youth Authority, where officials can release him at any time but must free him by his 25th birthday.

Richard A. Parker, a 24-year-old transient, accepted the same plea bargain that was offered to Jay and faces the same possible prison term when he is sentenced Jan. 23.

Stanford said that although he would have argued at trial that drugs and alcohol made Jay’s mental state “questionable” on the night of the slaying, the teen-ager chose not to risk a possible conviction on the first-degree murder charge.

If he had been found guilty of the original four charges, Jay could have been sentenced to 32 years to life in prison.