Man, 19, Convicted of Arson and Murder of 3 in Apartment House He Set Afire

A teen-ager accused of setting a fire last May that killed three young people as they slept in a Redondo Beach “party house” apartment was convicted Monday of three counts of second-degree murder.

A Torrance Superior Court jury also found Ryan Rickert, 19, of Manhattan Beach guilty of arson for setting the blaze that killed David Weissman, 22, Lana McLeod, 21, and James Wooden, 25.

Prosecutors described Rickert as “a spoiled young man” who set the fire maliciously after apartment residents refused to wake up and socialize with him and a friend.

Rickert, who faces from 15 years to life in prison, is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 23 before Judge J. Gary Hastings.

Testimony disclosed that Rickert entered the apartment at 1215 Beryl St. with friend Brady Kruse, then 19, early on the morning of May 23, a Saturday.

The door was frequently left open for neighborhood young people who partied there, but on that night the regular host, Roger Coloma, refused to get out of bed to socialize.

Police said that Rickert and Kruse began setting small fires on the floor of the two-story apartment, then found a can of charcoal starter fluid.

In a taped interview with police, Rickert admitted that he poured the fluid on a couch, but claimed that Kruse set fire to the liquid.

Coloma, 32, and tenant David Williams, 29, awoke in time to escape the fire. The charred bodies of Weissman, McLeod and Wooden were found in their upstairs bedrooms.

Defense attorney Walter Urban said the fire was a “stupid mistake,” but argued that the prosecution failed to prove that Rickert acted maliciously. Urban said he will ask Hastings to reduce the conviction to manslaughter.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen McLaughlin had asked for a conviction of first-degree murder, but said he was satisfied with the second-degree verdict.

Police and prosecutors said there is not enough evidence to charge Kruse in the case. But “the case is not closed,” McLaughlin said. “As far as I’m concerned, he’s still a suspect.”