Mortuary Fraud Inquiry Unearths Murder Tale

An investigation of fraud and illegal practices at a Pasadena funeral home has uncovered evidence that the operator of a Burbank cremation service, Timothy Waters, was murdered three years ago.

Witnesses at a preliminary hearing testified that one of the principals in the Pasadena funeral home, David Sconce, told them that he poisoned Waters, whose death in Ventura County was originally classified as being due to natural causes.

But the Ventura County medical examiner-coroner’s office revealed last week that laboratory tests found traces of oleander poison in Waters’ preserved blood and tissue samples.

Chief Medical Examiner Dr. F. Warren Lovell said Waters’ death has now been reclassified as murder.

“Toxicological tests were carried out by two reference laboratories. Both found lethal levels of oleander, the toxic extract obtained from oleander leaves,” Lovell said.

Ventura County Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron James said prosecutors are reviewing the evidence and have not determined whether murder charges will be filed against Sconce.

Guy E. O’Brien, Sconce’s attorney, said his client denies any involvement in Waters’ death.

Face 67 Counts

Sconce and his parents, Jerry Sconce and Laurieanne Lamb Sconce--who operated the Lamb Funeral Home in Pasadena and the Coastal International Eye & Tissue Bank, which was based in Santa Fe Springs--already face a total of 67 felony and misdemeanor counts. They are accused, among other things, of mutilating corpses, illegally selling body parts to scientific laboratories, commingling human remains and stealing dental gold from corpses.

David Sconce also faces charges of soliciting the murders of his grandparents, Lawrence and Lucille Lamb, and Deputy Dist. Atty. Walter H. Lewis, the prosecutor who was handling the case. Prosecutors said Sconce wanted to kill his grandparents so that his mother could inherit the business.

A trial is pending in Pasadena Superior Court. The Sconces have pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Waters, 24, died April 8, 1985, in Camarillo, where he was staying at his mother’s home. He was stricken with nausea, vomiting and indigestion, and coroners said he later died of cardiac arrest due to liver damage.

There was no suspicion of foul play, and the special tests needed to detect a poison were not conducted, Lovell said. But Ventura County saves blood and tissue samples from every autopsy for an indefinite period in the event that new evidence arises concerning the cause of death.

In this case, the investigation was reopened after the Sconces were arrested and authorities obtained statements from several of David Sconce’s cellmates at Los Angeles County Jail and from two former employees of the Lamb Funeral Home. David Sconce has been held in jail without bail since June, 1987.

Boasting Recounted

Cellmates and former Lamb employees told investigators that Sconce bragged about poisoning Waters to silence his complaints about the Lamb Funeral Home.

Waters owned the Alpha Society, which arranged low-cost cremations.

At the Sconces’ preliminary hearing, one witness testified that he told David Sconce that Waters suspected the Lamb Funeral Home of illegally conducting multiple cremations.

Waters was beaten Feb. 12, 1985, by two men allegedly hired by Sconce.

Danny Galambos, who has pleaded guilty to taking part in the assault, testified in the preliminary hearing that he was hired by Sconce.

After the eight-month preliminary hearing, which ended in May, the Sconces were ordered to stand trial in Superior Court. The hearing, longest in the history of Pasadena Municipal Court, included testimony from 99 witnesses and the introduction of 161 pieces of evidence.

Poison in the Drink

According to the testimony of David Edwards, a former Lamb employee, Sconce went to a restaurant where Waters was eating several weeks after the assault and, while Waters was away from the table, dropped poison into his drink. The incident occurred a month before Waters died, Edwards said.

Sconce allegedly told several cellmates at the jail that he had to poison Waters a second time.

Cellmate David Gearhardt testified in the preliminary hearing that Sconce told him Waters suffered a heart attack after another dose of poison and said, “I know it’s from the poison I gave him.”

Testimony about Waters’ death was allowed in the preliminary hearing because of its connection to the assault charges.

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. JoAnn Glidden, who is now prosecuting the case, said Sconce may have learned about oleander poison from a book he borrowed from Edwards called “The Poor Man’s James Bond.” The book contains a section detailing how to kill a person with poison.

Edwards testified that Sconce told him he wanted to read the book to find a way to poison his neighbor’s dog. Edwards said the book was never returned.