Body in Car Trunk Was at Police Garage 2 Days

A rented Cadillac containing a Las Vegas man’s body sat for two days at a West Los Angeles police garage before it was taken to a car dealership, where a mechanic discovered the corpse in the trunk, authorities said Thursday.

The body of Howard Gottesman, 27, was found Wednesday evening wrapped in plastic in a 1988 Cadillac Fleetwood, Los Angeles police said. An autopsy is pending, but Gottesman appeared to have been beaten to death, Detective Hank Petroski said.

The motive for the killing is not known, he said.

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 previously located in a Calabasas shopping mall until it was destroyed by fire, along with 13 neighboring businesses, in June, 1985.

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

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 on Dec. 13 to Martin Cadillac on Olympic Boulevard for servicing and minor repair work.

Douglas Eickhoff, service director for the dealership, said the car sat in its yard until repair work 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 body was not found sooner because there were no clues to suggest any crime. Low temperatures likely prevented odors, he said.

An Avon Rent-A-Car official said Gottesman rented the car from Avon’s airport office on Nov. 12 and told employees he would be using it for about a month.