Molestation Alleged : Police Identify 2nd Suspect in Girls’ Shooting

Los Angeles police said Thursday that they have identified a woman they believe helped a transient kidnap two Chatsworth girls found shot last Saturday morning.

Authorities also said the motive for the kidnaping appears to have been sexual molestation. The reason for the shootings remains unclear.

Police are seeking Marsha Lynn Erickson, 33, who was described by police as a drug user with a long criminal history. In recent years, police said, she had been a friend of Roland Norman Comtois, who is accused of firing the shots that killed Wendy Masuhara, 14, and wounded a 13-year-old companion.

Comtois, 57, was charged Thursday with murder, attempted murder, kidnaping and several acts of sexual molestation. The murder charge includes special circumstances that would make Comtois eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

The girls were abducted Sept. 18 while they were walking late at night on a quiet street near their homes. Police said Erickson lured them to a motor home by feigning engine trouble and asking for their help. Comtois, police said, was waiting inside.

Shot in Woolsey Canyon

The sexual acts took place a considerable distance from where the girls were shot in an abandoned station wagon in remote Woolsey Canyon, Sterling E. Norris, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney, said Thursday.

Norris said Comtois and Erickson “became surprised or thought something had happened that would endanger them, and they moved to a different location.” The 13-year-old was molested, but Masuhara apparently was not, Norris said.

The reason for the shootings is not known, although Norris said the girls were shot “during the process of kidnaping . . . and also probably to prevent them from telling the police about what happened.”

No weapon has been found, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates said at a press conference Thursday.

Erickson was identified through interviews with Comtois’ associates and from photographs shown to the surviving girl, Gates said. Erickson was “partially responsible for the kidnaping and potentially responsible for the murder,” he said.

Gates said she has a history that includes prostitution, burglary and narcotics. “She makes her living on the street,” he said.

Erickson has been known to roam the northeast San Fernando Valley and northeast Los Angeles and has been living with Comtois on occasion out of a motor home for at least six months, he said.

Comtois, an ex-convict who also has a long criminal record, was wounded Tuesday while fleeing police, authorities say. Officers acting on a tip had spotted him in the 3800 block of Newell Street near Dodger Stadium as he moved personal items from a motor home that fit the description of the one used in the abduction.

Shot in Back, Leg

When Comtois saw the officers, police said, he ran down the street, climbed over a wall and continued running. He was shot in the back and leg by one of the officers. Comtois was conscious but remained in critical condition Thursday at County-USC Medical Center.

Comtois had been identified as a suspect in the Masuhara killing just before the shooting, Gates said Thursday.

Los Angeles County Superior Court records show that Comtois, who has a history of drug abuse, was convicted of rape in Massachusetts in 1952. In 1974, he was sentenced to five to 15 years in state prison in California after pleading guilty to selling heroin and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Comtois also served prison terms in California for convictions in 1960 for armed bank robbery and in 1962 for robbery, according to court records.