Ex-Detective in ‘Vision’ Case Calls Arrest Unjust

A retired Los Angeles police officer testified Monday that detectives committed an injustice in 1980 when they arrested a woman whose “psychic vision” led them to the body of a murder victim.

Lee M. Ryan, who retired last year and now lives in Idaho, was the first detective to speak to Etta Louise Smith when she reported her vision concerning the murder of a Sylmar nurse.

Later, after leading police to the body in Lopez Canyon, Smith was arrested by other detectives who doubted her story and thought she might be connected to the killing, according to testimony in the trial on Smith’s civil suit against the City of Los Angeles.

“I believe there’s been a miscarriage of justice in the case of Mrs. Smith,” Ryan told the Van Nuys Superior Court jury.

Smith, who spent four days in custody, is suing the city for unspecified damages, alleging that police lacked probable cause to arrest her. Three men with no known connection to Smith eventually were convicted of the murder of Melanie L. Uribe, 31, and are serving sentences of up to life in state prison.

Arrest Termed ‘Discredit’

Ryan, who said he paid his own way to Los Angeles to testify on Smith’s behalf, called the arrest a “discredit” to the Police Department and its retirees.

He said other detectives on the case told him that their commanding officer had ordered the jailing of Smith, who is white, because of her close association with blacks in the Lake View Terrace neighborhood where the nurse was kidnaped. The assailants were described by witnesses as being black men.

The commanding officer, Capt. John Salvino, thought Smith “was withholding information or possibly protecting somebody because she cohabited, lived with, a male Negro,” Ryan testified.

Salvino, who retired in 1982, could not be reached for comment. Assistant City Atty. Michael K. Fox, who is defending the city in the trial, has maintained that Smith’s story was “suspicious” and “bizarre” and that police acted reasonably in arresting her.

Detectives Skeptical

In police reports of the incident, detectives speculated that she may have learned about the killing through neighborhood gossip.

Smith, 39, lived in Pacoima in 1980 but has moved to Burbank.

She testified last week that, after hearing a radio news report on Dec. 17, 1980, about the nurse’s disappearance, she visualized a canyon where she believed the woman’s body had been dumped.

Smith went to the Foothill Division police station and related her experience to Ryan. He said he reassured Smith that police would search the area and that her name would be kept confidential.

“We considered her a very valuable witness,” Ryan testified. “She had come forward on her own in a very serious matter.”

Concerned that officers might ignore her lead, Smith said, she went to the canyon immediately after the meeting with Ryan and located the body. Then she led police back to the scene, she said.

Smith was arrested early the next morning and released Dec. 21 after one suspect had confessed.