Lynwood Teacher Sought in Killing of Pregnant Wife

A Lynwood teacher, who disappeared moments after his estranged, 22-year-old pregnant wife--one of his former students--was shot to death at their handsome hilltop home in Walnut, was being sought Thursday by authorities.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators said the man’s live-in teen-age girlfriend--another former student--claimed she fired the shots that killed Kriscita Shareef, believing that the woman was a burglar. But evidence indicated that the woman’s husband, Tacuma Shareef, 35, was the killer, investigators said.

While the girlfriend told homicide detectives that Kriscita Shareef was slain in a back-yard patio area while trying to break into the home, a neighbor’s statements indicate that the woman may have been shot elsewhere on the property, then dragged out to the patio to support the break-in story.

Detectives said Tacuma Shareef drove off in his Mercedes-Benz 500 sedan after the killing at about 5 p.m. on July 15 and neither he nor the car have been seen since.

“We would like very much to speak with him,” Deputy Carl Deeley said.

Tacuma Shareef worked full time as a history instructor at Lynwood High School, where Principal Mickey Cureton described him as a good teacher with a good record who never had any kind of problems.

Neighbors in the 19000 block of Summit Ridge Road said the teacher--also known as Tony Smith--moved into the spacious two-story rented home with his wife and daughter, now 3 years old, about a year ago. Another daughter was born three months ago and the woman was pregnant with their third child.

The family tended to keep to themselves, the neighbors said. But there soon were incidents--apparently stemming from arguments between the husband and wife.

“About five or six months ago, the wife came over and asked me if I knew how to hot-wire cars,” said Steve Johnson, who lives next door with his wife, Vlasia. “She said she had lost her keys. I told her I couldn’t do it. . . .

“I didn’t think much about it then,” Johnson said, “but about a month later she came over one night and said she was locked out of her home. She said her husband was still away at work. She asked if I could show her how to lift a window out. . . .

“Well, I went over there and I lifted up their kitchen window. . . . I heard someone holler at me, and there’s her husband, in the kitchen, in the dark. . . . He’d been there all the time. I noticed they were acting kind of cold to each other. . . .”

It was about then, deputies said, that Kriscita Shareef moved out, taking the children with her. Not long after, officers said, Cindy Louise Gross, 18, moved in.

Last Friday, neighbors said, Kriscita Shareef showed up, accompanied by a law enforcement officer, with some legal papers to be served on her husband. After an argument, the neighbors said, Kriscita Shareef and the officer left.

Shortly before 5 p.m., deputies said, the woman returned with her daughters.

Steve Johnson said he was in the upstairs area of his home next door when he heard three sharp reports, followed about 30 seconds later by three more. He said he looked out the window to the patio of the Shareef home but saw nothing.

A few minutes later, he said, a sheriff’s deputy arrived to tell him that the woman next door had been slain. This time, when he looked out on the patio, he saw the body of Kriscita Shareef lying there, Johnson said.

Deeley said Thursday that Gross told investigators she fired several shots from a .38-caliber revolver at Kriscita Shareef through a window obscured by a venetian blind after hearing the window break in what Gross believed was an attempted burglary.

Gross was arrested and questioned, but later released.

The children, who were in the home when officers arrived to investigate, have been placed in the custody of relatives.

Officers said a murder warrant was issued for Tacuma Shareef after evidence at the scene indicated it was he who fired the fatal shots. Investigators declined to disclose what the evidence was.