Corvette Slaying : Death Penalty to Be Sought Against 2 Men

A prosecutor said Friday that he plans to seek the death penalty against two men arrested in the killing of an Anaheim woman after a search of a Sunset Beach residence turned up evidence, including a handgun and DMV documents bearing the name of the victim and her husband.

Robert Clarence Taylor, 26, of Sunset Beach, Norman James DeWitt, 33, of Cypress and Nanette Scheid, 27, are scheduled to be arraigned in North Orange County Municipal Court on Tuesday on charges of murder, attempted murder, burglary and robbery, Deputy Dist. Atty. Mel Jensen said. They are being held in Orange County Jail.

The three are suspected of answering an ad on Sunday listing Kazumi Hanano’s 1984 black Corvette for sale, tying up Hanano and his wife, Ryoko, and shooting them both. Ryoko Hanano died, and the Corvette was stolen.

The two men are being held without bail, and Jensen said he plans to seek the death penalty against them for killing Ryoko Hanano while in the process of committing robbery and burglary. The men also face firearms charges, Jensen said.

Bail for Scheid has been set at $500,000.

“We were fortunate,” Jensen said. “The police did good, basic police work and did an excellent job.”

According to documents filed in court, Taylor’s house on 23rd Street in Sunset Beach was searched after a warrant was issued Wednesday.

Police took several items in that search, according to the court documents, including a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun, .45-caliber ammunition, four Department of Motor Vehicles registration cards in the Hananos’ names for a 1984 Chevrolet, two DMV ownership documents in the Hananos’ names, two Unocal gasoline receipts signed by Robert Taylor and one torn bill of sale from Kazumi Hanano.

Police arrested Taylor and Scheid on Wednesday after they found one of Scheid’s fingerprints at the scene of the crime, police said. They ran the fingerprint through a statewide computer network known as CAL-ID and got three possible addresses for Scheid.

At one of the addresses, detectives saw a tan-colored van that matched the description of one used in the Anaheim killing. After staking out the house, police said they saw Taylor drive away in the stolen Corvette, which had been parked in the garage.

Slaying Linked to Ad

Interviews with Taylor and Scheid led to the arrest of DeWitt in Cypress on Thursday, police said.

Police believe the Hananos’ classified ad led the assailants to their home Sunday night. A woman contacted the victims during the day, test drove the car and used the phone to set up an appointment for later in the day, when she arrived with two men, police said.

Ryoko Hanano, 62, was shot to death. Her husband, Kazumi Hanano, 62, who was shot in the chest, was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange. His condition is being withheld at the request of the family, according to hospital officials.