Random Victim : Death Called Part of Scheme to Win Inmate’s Release

A man who was fatally shot this month in Topanga Canyon was the random victim of a plot hatched by a Riverside County prisoner trying to negotiate his way out of jail, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday.

The prisoner had three henchmen kill the man so he could bargain for his release in exchange for information about the killing, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy George Smith said.

The Sheriff’s Department will ask the district attorney’s office today to file murder charges against the three men and the prisoner, Michael Birman, 30, of Riverside, said Sheriff’s Lt. Donn Brooks.

“This case has been a mind-boggling mystery that we’re just now trying to tie together,” Brooks said.

Abducted in Hollywood

The victim, Catarino Reyes, 43, of Hollywood, was abducted from a street in Hollywood and fatally shot the night of April 18 by Robert Meyers, 31; Lawrence Hawkins, 30, and Andrew Fox, 25, all of Riverside, Smith said.

The body of Reyes, a baker, was found in a remote area off Summit to Summit Motorway, overlooking the San Fernando Valley, Brooks said.

Birman, who investigators believe ordered the killing, had pleaded guilty to one robbery charge and had been awaiting trial on another, Smith said. He also has pending charges in Los Angeles County, said Brooks, who declined to specify them.

Investigators initially could not identify Reyes’ body, but about two hours after they left the crime scene, Birman called the Malibu sheriff’s station with information about the slaying, Brooks said.

Knew Several Details

When deputies interviewed him at the jail the next day, he disclosed several details of the crime, including its location, and the fact that Reyes had been shot once with a .38-caliber revolver, Brooks said.

Birman also told them that he knew who had committed the crime, Smith said.

He had told them enough so that “the officers knew that he knew precisely what happened,” Brooks said.

“They were very, very concerned as to how somebody in Riverside County Jail would know so many critical factors regarding a murder that had occurred up in L.A. County just a few hours before,” Brooks said.

“Birman wanted to wheel and deal with the investigators and give them information on a murder so that he could deal his way out of jail,” Brooks added.

Two days later, on April 21, Meyers, Hawkins and Fox were arrested for allegedly leaving a Marina Del Rey restaurant without paying the check, Smith said.

2 Suspects Related

An investigator at the Marina Del Rey sheriff’s station knew of Birman and happened to interview the three suspects, Brooks said. He learned that Hawkins is Birman’s son-in-law, and after further investigation, detectives were led to the home of Birman’s wife in the northern California city of Woodlake, where they found the .38-caliber revolver which they believe was used to shoot Reyes, authorities said.

Brooks said he did not know whether the three killed Reyes after a promise of payment or simply out of allegiance to Birman.

Investigators also did not know whether Birman told the three exactly why he had ordered the random murder.

“We don’t know what the arrangements were,” Brooks said.