Video Executive, Wife Slain in Beverly Hills Mansion : Both Shot Repeatedly, Police Say

A Los Angeles entertainment executive who once headed RCA/Ariola records and U.S. operations for the Hertz Corp. was found shot to death along with his wife in their Beverly Hills mansion, authorities said today.

The bodies of Jose E. Menendez, 45, and Mary Louise (Kitty) Menendez, 44, were discovered shortly before midnight in their North Elm Drive home by one of their two sons, who called 911 at 11:47 p.m.

“It was a very hysterical call,” said Lt. Robert Curtis, spokesman for the Beverly Hills Police Department. When police arrived one minute later, they discovered the victims, dressed in street clothes, dead in a front family room of the Mediterranean-style mansion. Both had been shot repeatedly, officers said.

Chairman of Video Firm

Menendez was chairman of the board of LIVE Entertainment Inc. of Van Nuys, a successful firm that buys video rights to feature films, including those made by Sylvester Stallone, and delivers video and music software to big retailers.

The homicides, the first to occur in Beverly Hills this year, shocked residents of the tree-lined street, among the most upscale in Los Angeles.

One elderly neighbor, who declined to be identified, said: “Things like this don’t happen here.”

Curtis said it was not immediately clear how the assailants gained entry to the Menendez home but noted that the house was not ransacked. Investigators were not aware of any threats against the couple, he said.

Several people were brought to the Police Department for questioning but were released, Curtis said. They were not identified.

‘Popping’ Sounds

Tom Zlottou, who lives across a back alley from the Menendez house, said he was watching a televised James Bond movie on Sunday night when he heard “popping” sounds--apparently gunshots--coming from across the alley.

“I didn’t think anything of the sound,” he said, despite the fact that the sound of gunfire is such a rarity in Beverly Hills.

Menendez, a certified public accountant who was educated in New York City, spent 14 years with the RCA Corp., ultimately directing all U.S. operations for its Hertz Corp. car rental subsidiary. He also was chief operating officer for its RCA/Ariola division, according to a biography released today by LIVE Entertainment, the company that he has directed since leaving RCA in August, 1986.

LIVE’s vice president of operations, John Powell, who arrived early today at the mansion, said he is dumbfounded as to why anyone would kill the Menendezes.

“The whole company is in shock,” the shaken Powell said.

Second-Quarter Profits

Last week, LIVE Entertainment posted second-quarter net income of $1.5 million, almost triple the profit it made in the 1988 period, on revenue of $82.2 million.

The company said a strong performance by newly acquired Strawberry Records, an 85-store retail chain based in New England, played a key role in what it called “record” results.

The Menendezes, according to property records, moved in October, 1988, from a $950,000 house in Calabasas to the $4-million home in Beverly Hills where they died. They took out a $2-million loan on the house, records show.

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Correction

Mary Louise (Kitty) Menendez was 47 when she died, not 44.

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