Viewers Call In, but Suspect in Wife’s Death Eludes Agents

Following a trail of clues spawned by a nationally broadcast TV program, federal agents in Florida came within hours of apprehending a long-missing Leucadia business entrepreneur wanted for questioning in the slaying of his wife, authorities said Monday.

Agents from the FBI’s Miami bureau arrived at the home of Charles (Chuck) Russ about 9 p.m. Sunday, only to discover from his new girlfriend that the one-time telecommunications dynamo had left two hours earlier, officials said.

Authorities were tipped off to Russ’ whereabouts in the small community of Hallandale, about 20 miles north of Miami, by callers who saw an eight-minute segment detailing the slaying of Pamela Russ on “America’s Most Wanted,” a syndicated TV program aired on stations throughout the country.

Run Over With Own Car

The battered body of Pamela Russ, a 33-year-old dancer and artist, was discovered in February, 1987, along a stretch of the coast highway near Torrey Pines State Reserve. Authorities concluded that an assailant had beaten Russ, then run her over with her own car as she tried to flee.

In the months after the slaying, the once-thriving business empire of Chuck Russ mysteriously crumbled, seemingly overnight. He also was sued by his mother-in-law, Ginger Allen, for allegedly bilking her of her retirement nest egg of more than $80,000.

Faced with the looming legal fight and a murder investigation that was focusing on him as a prime suspect, Russ dropped from sight in August, 1987. Since then, authorities have followed his trail to Taos, N. M., and Phoenix, but have missed arresting him before he vanished again.

Sgt. Hank Olias of the San Diego Police Department’s homicide detail said more than 100 calls were generated Sunday night by the show, about 13 of them from south Florida.

Police officers and FBI agents assigned to winnow the calls quickly determined that tips from the south Florida area detailed the habits of a man remarkably similar to Russ.

In particular, officers took note when the callers described a man who was going by the name of Patrick Donovan, the same name Russ used when he was nearly apprehended in connection with a phony airline ticket scam in Phoenix early last year.

Moreover, the man in Hallandale was apparently soliciting customers for products over the phone.

On Sunday night, the law officers alerted FBI agents in Miami, where the television show aired at

8 p.m. The agents arrived an hour later at the house where Russ was apparently living. They questioned a woman described as his girlfriend, who was “very uncooperative,” according to an FBI spokesman at the Miami bureau.

Although the agents were unable to catch Russ, authorities believe he is still in the Florida area, Olias said. Photographs of Russ, who has been described by some acquaintances as a con man, are being circulated throughout the state, and the FBI is following up on leads.

Relatives of Pamela Russ, meanwhile, were eager Monday to see some break in the drawn-out investigation.

“I’m just hoping,” Allen said. “At least, now I feel like something’s happening. For the last year it’s been nothing. You feel abandoned.”

Mark Allen, Pamela’s older brother, said he feels Chuck Russ has “consistently lied about his involvement or lack of involvement in this murder.”