Strangulation of Woman, 81 : Suspect in Sex Slaying Linked to S.D. Killing

Homicide detectives have uncovered evidence that “without a doubt” links Warren Bland--the convicted sex offender charged in the kidnap-slaying of a 7-year-old girl--to the strangulation of an elderly San Diego woman, police said Tuesday.

Investigators believe Bland strangled 81-year-old Ruth M. Ost and then ransacked and stole “valuable items” from her downtown apartment. Ost’s nude body, her hands tied behind her back, was found by her apartment manager Feb. 4, several days after she died.

Shortly after Bland was shot and captured by San Diego police Feb. 9, detectives learned from witnesses that Bland had visited Ost’s apartment on at least one occasion before her death, Lt. Phil Jarvis said.

Bland, 51, who is being held at the Riverside County Jail in the slaying of young Phoebe Ho of South Pasadena, has not yet been charged in Ost’s death. Jarvis said investigators will write their reports and submit the case soon to the San Diego County district attorney.

San Bernardino County authorities, who had searched Bland’s 1970 blue Toyota in an attempt to uncover evidence that would tie him to yet another slaying, the strangulation of 14-year-old Wendy Osborn, found items belonging to Ost, including some with her name on them, Jarvis said.

Both Ho and Osborn had been sexually assaulted, apparently tortured with pliers or another clamping-type tool, and then strangled, authorities say. Detectives in San Diego said they also believe Ost had been sexually assaulted but they may never be able to prove it because of the extent of decomposition of her body at the time it was found.

“It’s possible that evidence could be lost by the condition of the body,” Coroner David Stark said. “. . . It becomes very, very difficult when the body deteriorates that way.”

At the time of the three slayings, Bland was on parole on a conviction of molesting an 11-year-old Torrance boy, whom he had tortured with pliers. Bland has an extensive record of rape and child molestation dating to 1960, and had spent all but 5 of the last 26 years either in prison or state mental institutions.

Ho’s body was found Dec. 18 in Riverside County, where authorities early this month issued a murder warrant for Bland’s arrest based largely on physical evidence. Ho disappeared Dec. 11 while walking to school. At the time, Bland was working as a house painter at an apartment complex less than two blocks from where she was last seen alive.

Osborn vanished Jan. 20 on her way to school in Placentia, a community in northern Orange County. Her body was found Feb. 1 in the Chino Hills area of San Bernardino County. Bland remains the leading suspect in Osborn’s death because of striking similarities to the Ho slaying, but authorities have been frustrated by their inability to uncover any solid evidence.

“Basically, he’s the only named suspect we’ve got,” said Sgt. Mike Stodelle of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. “He’s not stronger or weaker (as a suspect) than he started out to be.”

On Tuesday, flyers seeking the aid of potential witnesses were distributed in downtown Anaheim near the liquor store where Osborn’s purse was found in a trash can within two hours after she had disappeared.

Authorities are uncertain when Bland fled to the San Diego area in an attempt to evade one of the most intensive manhunts in Southern California in recent years. Local residents had reported seeing Bland--who has a distinctive, eight-inch tattoo of a dagger and rose on one forearm--in the San Diego area for days. While in San Diego, Bland worked at a McDonald’s restaurant in Pacific Beach.

Ost’s body was found in her Cathedral Plaza apartment at 1551 3rd Ave. five days before Bland was shot in the buttocks by police after being seen in a restaurant parking lot. Ost’s daughter had called the apartment manager to report that she had been unable to contact her mother.

Jarvis said investigators initially were stumped by Ost’s killing. “There were no obvious signs of a break-in,” he said. “It was very difficult to understand how someone got inside a security building and got up to her apartment. We were at a little bit of a loss to explain it.”

After Bland was captured, San Diego police began to suspect that he may have committed some armed robberies with a .32-caliber revolver that was recovered from his car. But homicide detectives had no reason to question Bland or make a thorough search of his car for evidence in connection with the Ost slaying, Jarvis said. Police sealed the vehicle and preserved the evidence for authorities investigating the Ho and Osborn killings.

The break in the Ost case came several days later when a “little old lady” in Pacific Beach told police that a man befriended her and accompanied her on a trip to Ost’s apartment before Ost’s death.

“She didn’t have any idea it was Bland,” Jarvis said of the key witness, whom he refused to identify. “She didn’t know his true name.”

In addition, police found witnesses who reported seeing a middle-aged man resembling Bland leaving Ost’s apartment around the time of her death. Ost was last seen alive Jan. 28, one week before her body was found.

Police are uncertain how Bland entered Ost’s apartment a second time, but Jarvis speculated that he may have used a ruse to get by a security guard or received permission to enter from Ost.

Jarvis said that, when San Diego homicide detectives inquired about Ost, San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators immediately recognized her name. A check of the numerous pieces of evidence taken from Bland’s car revealed items with Ost’s name written on them, Jarvis said.

Jarvis said that “a very large diamond ring and a gold and opal necklace (Ost) wore all the time” have not been recovered, however.

Stodelle, of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, said he was unaware of what items were found in Bland’s car in connection with the Ost killing.

“The only thing I know is that they did supposedly find evidence in the vehicle,” Stodelle said. “There was trace evidence obtained as well as some other stuff, but I don’t know if it linked Ruth Ost to the car or not.”

If the district attorney’s office decides to charge Bland in Ost’s death, Jarvis said, prosecutors may have to wait until he is tried in Riverside County in the Ho case before trying him in San Diego County. Or, Jarvis said, the state attorney general’s office may decide to take over the cases and prosecute Bland on all three at once.

Jarvis also said San Diego investigators will be reviewing recent unsolved homicides to determine whether Bland is a suspect in any of them. “We don’t know how long he’s been in the area,” Jarvis said. “I can’t think of another case that fits his M.O., but we’ll check.

“I don’t think we totally understand him yet. He’s not talking to us.”

Times staff writer Nancy Wride in Orange County contributed to this report.