Daughter, 3 Others Held in Killing of Man

Last Sunday, Deborah Ann Werner, 40, frantically called Orange County sheriff’s deputies, telling them her 72-year-old father had been murdered in his bed and their Mission Viejo home had been ransacked, apparently by burglars.

On Saturday, however, deputies arrested Werner and three acquaintances on suspicion of plotting the murder so she could inherit “several hundred thousand dollars,” a sheriff’s spokesman said.

The victim, David Werner, a retired stockbroker and businessman, was found with a knife in his neck. An autopsy showed that he had been smothered before he had been stabbed.

Suspicions Raised

The disarray in the house immediately raised suspicions that the scene had been faked, Sheriff’s Lt. Richard Olson said.

“It appeared the scene was made to look like a burglary scene,” he said. “There was no sign of forced entry and nothing was missing.”

Inconsistencies in Deborah Werner’s story focused suspicions on her, Olson said.

Also arrested late Friday and early Saturday were Carrie Mae Chidester, 20, of Huntington Beach, Charles L. Clemmons, 20, of Anaheim, and Miguel Ruiz, 21, of Garden Grove.

The four were being held in Orange County Jail on suspicion of murder and conspiracy. Bail was set for each at $250,000.

Deborah Werner reportedly became acquainted with the other suspects through her daughter, who is a friend of Chidester.

Open Door

Deborah Werner then allegedly hired Clemmons--a construction worker who was Chidester’s boyfriend--along with Ruiz to kill her father. She left the home’s sliding glass door unlocked so they could enter the house easily, Olson said.

After killing David Werner, the two men overturned some chairs and tables in the house to simulate a burglary, he said.

All four suspects gathered later that night at a nearby convenience store, and a $3,000 check was given as payment for the killing, Olson said. An additional $1,000 in cash was promised but never delivered, he said.

Olson described Deborah Werner as a bookkeeper who worked as a liquor store clerk. Family acquaintances said she was divorced.

After David Werner, a widower, had remarried and then filed for divorce, his daughter moved into his house to help him through the ordeal, a friend said.

Daughter ‘Supportive’

“His daughter was very supportive,” said Castas A. Ladikos of Brea, David Werner’s divorce attorney. “She’d come to court with him. When I spoke to her about him, she was very supportive.”

Ladikos said she telephoned him after her father was killed, asking whether Ladikos would handle her father’s will in probate. Ladikos referred her to another attorney, he said.

“From what she told me, the will was in thirds. She and her two brothers would each get a third,” Ladikos said.

He said he would be “real surprised” if the estate amounted to “several hundred thousand dollars,” as estimated by sheriff’s investigators. “I handled his divorce. Unless he’s got some life insurance, he just didn’t have that kind of money.”

Another attorney who had counseled David Werner during business deals said he led a varied life that included work as a cattle rancher, appraiser, oil developer and stockbroker.