Man Suspected of 6 Killings Admits to Passport Fraud

A man identified as the prime suspect in the 1982 disappearances of two San Fernando Valley families pleaded guilty Monday to making a false passport application.

Harvey Rader, an Englishman who returned to the United States after being deported last year for concealing a record of theft and burglary convictions, faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the passport application charge.

Rader, a former Granada Hills resident, is under investigation in the suspected killings of Peter and Joan Davis of Granada Hills and Sol and Elaine Salomon of Northridge and their two children, all of whom disappeared within seven months of each other in 1982. No bodies were ever found.

“He is the prime suspect in the murders,” said Los Angeles Police Detective Larry Bird. “It’s an ongoing investigation, and it’s very active at this point.”

Both Peter Davis and Sol Salomon were involved as partners in a luxury automobile leasing and repair business that Rader operated in Reseda, Bird said.

Detectives also have speculated that the Davises were slain in connection with the theft of artwork from their home, including a painting valued at more than $100,000.

Elaine Salomon’s 70-year-old mother, Margaret Malarowitz, said her daughter was on the telephone with her best friend on the day of her disappearance when she paused to answer the doorbell.

“She came back and she said, ‘Barbara, it’s Harvey Rader. I can’t talk right now.’ And that was the last anyone ever heard of them (the family),” Malarowitz said after Monday’s hearing before U.S. District Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler.

“I don’t want him to go free,” she said. “I want him put away. I want to see justice done.”

Bird said police officials will urge a long sentence on the passport conviction, in part to encourage potential witnesses in the murder case who have been afraid to come forward.

Rader, who remains in custody pending his Sept. 28 sentencing on the passport charge, has denied any involvement in the suspected killings. His attorney could not be reached for comment Monday.