Fatal Shooting of Real Estate Man Probed

The shooting death of a prominent real estate manager in his West Hollywood apartment was under investigation by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department homicide detectives Friday, but they were not yet ready to say publicly whether they consider it murder.

Alfredo De La Vega, 75, the wealthy friend of numerous Hollywood notables, was found dead in his bedroom at 1285 N. Crescent Heights Blvd. about mid-morning Thursday after his business assistant heard sounds of a disturbance and telephoned deputies.

Sheriff’s Information Bureau Deputy Dan Cox said De La Vega had been shot “more than once in the upper torso.” He said a revolver was found near the body.

An autopsy probably will be conducted today, said Bill Gold, coroner’s office spokesman.

The assistant, Jose Fury, said he was in the basement office of De La Vega Management Co., three floors below De La Vega’s apartment, when he heard what sounded like four shots, then several others, “but they could have been an echo.”

Fury said he called the apartment on the intercom and asked, “Alfredo, Alfredo, are you all right?”

He said he heard De La Vega call for his houseboy, “then he heard my voice and called, ‘Jose, Jose. . . . ‘ I told him I would be right there. I called 911 (the emergency number) and while I was talking to the officer, I heard a single shot.”

Armed deputies arrived, Fury said, and he went with them to the apartment, where De La Vega lay dead.

Investigators reportedly found no sign of forced entry.

De La Vega, a bachelor, was born in Los Angeles in 1912. His wealthy parents had fled Mexico following the revolution of 1910. Friends and relatives said he held elegant dinner parties in his home for film figures and politicians.

His niece, Maria De La Vega, of Manhattan Beach, said he had recently been invited to a birthday party for First Lady Nancy Reagan.

John Gavin, one-time actor and former ambassador to Mexico, said De La Vega was a longtime friend of his family. “We are all terribly saddened. He was an uncle figure to me. He was a person who had many friends. He loved life and enjoyed the social whirl,” he said. “He was in great demand.”

Maria De La Vega said her uncle was a frequent political contributor and worker for Nelson Rockefeller and other Republicans.