Woman Sentenced in Love Triangle Killing
A 29-year-old Encino woman was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years to life in prison for killing her boyfriend during an argument about the woman’s female lover.
Adele Kathy Rodriguez pleaded guilty earlier this month in Van Nuys Superior Court to second-degree murder after admitting that she strangled Stanley Wittman, 68, with a shoulder strap from a pair of overalls. The victim’s decomposed body was found Sept. 15, 1988, by the building manager in the couple’s apartment in the 5400 block of Newcastle Avenue.
The couple had been arguing about Rodriguez’s romantic involvement with another woman, Nancy Ortiz, at the time of the slaying, authorities said.
A week after the killing, police said they discovered Ortiz driving the victim’s 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass when she was stopped for a traffic violation. Ortiz told police that Rodriguez admitted to her that she had killed Wittman. Rodriguez was arrested a short time later, authorities said.
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