Man Seized in Nebraska After Chase Admits Killing L.A. Auto Salesman

The confessed killer of a Los Angeles car salesman who failed to return from a demonstration drive was captured in Nebraska after a wild freeway chase at speeds of more than 130 m.p.h., authorities said Friday.

Los Angeles Police Lt. Richard Iddings said 21-year-old Yale Booska admitted shooting Charles Washington, 61, and dumping his body somewhere near Interstate 10 “between L.A. and Palm Springs.”

The body had not been found by Friday night.

Washington, a salesman at Barish Chrysler-Plymouth on South La Brea Avenue, had been missing since Monday evening, when he took an apparent prospective buyer for a test drive in a red 1989 Chrysler Conquest TSI, a $21,000 sports car.

Sgt. Patrick Dorcey of the Sheriff’s Department in Seward County, Neb., said Booska was driving that car early Thursday evening when a patrol plane pilot spotted him running a stop sign as he re-entered the I-80 Freeway after stopping for gas near the city of Grand Island.

Nebraska State Patrol officers pulled him over, Dorcey said, but Booska sped off while they were checking his driver’s license and the car license, checks that showed he was wanted on a Virginia car theft warrant and that the Conquest was stolen in Los Angeles.

Dorcey said the pursuit spanned about 75 miles on the eastbound freeway through Hall, Hamilton, York and Seward counties. At one point, he said, the sports car was clocked at 137 m.p.h.

Booska was captured after Seward County sheriff’s deputies set up a roadblock, prompting him to cut across the median divider in an attempt to race back westward. A state patrolman shot out a tire and the sports car halted. Booska surrendered.

Dorcey denied a report that Booska was wounded.

Another officer there, however, said there were apparent bloodstains on the seat of the car. A Los Angeles police officer and a criminalist are scheduled to fly to Nebraska today to question Booska and to examine the car, presumably concentrating on the bloodstains.

Late Friday afternoon, Deputy Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Greg Sones filed an extradition request charging Booska with kidnaping for robbery, grand theft auto and driving a vehicle without the owner’s request.

If the interview and tests on the car indicate that a murder was indeed committed, said district attorney’s office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons, “we will file an additional charge.”

Booska was being held in the Seward County Jail without bail.

Seward County Dist. Atty. Randy Stoll said Booska used some of Washington’s credit cards while traveling between California and Nebraska.

Iddings said Booska has no apparent Los Angeles connections but has a mother in Vermont and a father in Florida. The mother told detectives that he has been a short order cook and a cab driver.

At Barish Chrysler-Plymouth, general sales manager Fred Elliott said news of the capture and the murder confession depressed his staff and brought numerous telephone calls of sympathy.

“We’re all shocked,” said Elliott. “This is a 40-year-old family store and Charles was part of the family.” He said Washington had been with the agency since the early 1980s.

Meanwhile, the Greater Los Angeles Motor Car Dealers Assn. sent its members a list of 11 steps for salesmen to take in protecting themselves and the cars. Among other things, they were advised to check and photocopy customers’ identification cards and--if possible--have a second salesman go along on demonstration drives.