After Tow-In : Corpse Found in Trunk of Rental Car

A rented Cadillac containing the body of a former Woodland Hills man sat for two days at a police impound yard before it was taken to a West Los Angeles car dealership, where a mechanic discovered the corpse in the trunk, authorities said Thursday.

The body of Howard Gottesman, 27, of Las Vegas was found wrapped in plastic in a 1988 Cadillac Fleetwood on Wednesday evening, said Los Angeles Police Detective Hank Petroski. He said an autopsy is pending, but that Gottesman appears to have been beaten to death.

Car Abandoned

Gottesman was the son of Rubin Gottesman, owner of X-Citement Video of Van Nuys, a sex video company, police said. X-Citement Video was housed in a Calabasas shopping mall until a June, 1985, fire destroyed it and 13 neighboring businesses.

Petroski said the car was found abandoned on Mulholland Drive near Encino Hills Drive in Encino on Dec. 11 and towed to Ruben Motors, an official police impound yard in West Los Angeles.

The trunk key was missing and there were no signs of foul play so investigators did not attempt to open the trunk, Petroski said. The car was turned over to Avon Rent-A-Car, which owns it. The rental agency had the car towed to Martin Cadillac on Olympic Boulevard for servicing and minor repairs, Petroski said.

Stuart Silver, president of the automobile rental company, said the car was towed to the dealership Dec. 13. Douglas Eickhoff, service director for Martin, said the car sat in its yard until repairs began Wednesday.

The trunk lock was jammed so a mechanic cut a new key and, along with a foreman, opened the trunk and discovered the body.

Petroski said the motive for the killing is unknown.

The body was not discovered sooner because there were no clues to suggest any crime, he said. He speculated that low temperatures prevented odors.

Silver said Gottesman rented the car from Avon’s airport office Nov. 12 and told employees that he would be using it for about a month. Gottesman paid for the car with a credit card and said he was in the video business.

A spokesman for the coroner’s office said Gottesman had lived in Woodland Hills in the past, but carried a Nevada driver’s license with a Las Vegas address.