Prosecutors Reveal Clues They Say Link Guard to Slaying

Fingerprints, scratches and a bullet found beneath the body of an 18-year-old woman slain in Pacific Palisades last week have linked her murder to security guard Rodney Darnell Garmanian, who was arraigned Tuesday on charges of kidnaping, rape, robbery and murder, prosecutors said.

Held Without Bail

The 31-year-old Reseda resident, who entered a plea of not guilty, is being held without bail. A preliminary hearing will be set July 11 by West Los Angeles Municipal Judge Rosemary Shumsky.

Victor Sherman, a Los Angeles attorney who is representing Garmanian, refused to comment on the case.

Prosecutors said fingerprints matching those of the victim, Teak Dyer of Brentwood, were found on the passenger-side door of Garmanian’s patrol car. They said that a .38-caliber slug found beneath her bullet-riddled body on a restroom floor in a commercial building on Sunset Boulevard is compatible with the .38-caliber handgun that Garmanian carried and that her wrists bore bruises suggesting she had been handcuffed.

Dyer, who was to have graduated from Palisades High School last week, spent the hours before her death on June 22 with her mother and classmates at a combination graduation and birthday party on the Santa Monica Pier.

At about 11:30 p.m., Dyer and a friend, Nicole Rabin, drove to a party in the 300 block of Swarthmore Avenue. Rabin told police that Dyer was not feeling well and remained in the car. About 12:30 a.m. when Rabin returned to check on Dyer, the woman was not in the car. Rabin told police she thought Dyer had gotten a ride home with friends or decided to walk.

What happened in the next few hours is unclear. Several residents near the building where Dyer’s body was found told investigators later that they had heard gunshots at about 1 a.m. but did not report them at the time.

Early in the morning of June 22, a customer at a gas station across the street from the Topa Building at 15200 Sunset Blvd., where Dyer’s body was found, said Garmanian dropped by and complained about a broken zipper, prosecutors said.

Scratches on Arm

The man saw scratches on Garmanian’s face and an arm and asked how he got them. “Garmanian looked at the scratches and rubbed them without saying anything,” the man told police.

Garmanian reported finding Dyer’s body on his routine rounds at 6:45 a.m. Wednesday and was arrested later that day. Garmanian was scratched and his uniform was rumpled and missing its top button, prosecutors said.

Little is known about the suspect’s background; and his employer, MacGuard Security Systems, has refused to say how long he had been employed there. The company said it is cooperating fully with the police and has been told by detectives not to discuss the case. However, authorities said Garmanian has no criminal record.

The Times has learned that several days before Dyer’s death, a young woman complained to the security company that Garmanian had made sexual advances toward her when he answered a call at the house where she was staying in Pacific Palisades. Over the next few days, the woman alleged, he returned to the house several times and harassed her.

The woman and her mother said they were told that Garmanian would be transferred to another area and placed under investigation.

Complaints About Guards

One Pacific Palisades mother, who asked that her name not be used, said her daughter and friends had complained to her in the past about MacGuard security guards loitering around the high school asking girls for dates and offering them rides in their patrol cars.