Fugitive Spouse of Slaying Victim Pamela Russ Held

A smooth-talking Leucadia entrepreneur who disappeared shortly after his wife’s brutal killing two years ago was arrested Thursday in Hollywood, Fla.

Charles (Chuck) Russ, 39, was caught by Hollywood police early in the morning while strolling along a private beach. Police said Russ first gave an alias to the officers, then correctly identified himself and blurted, “But I didn’t kill my wife.”

The battered body of Pamela Russ, 33, a blue-eyed, blond artist, was discovered Feb. 1, 1987, on North Torrey Pines Road. Authorities said she apparently had been beaten, then run over with her cream-colored Mercedes-Benz, which was found abandoned nearby. No arrests have been made in the slaying.

Considered Prime Suspect

Charles Russ has not been formally charged in the homicide of his wife of seven years but has long been considered the prime suspect. He is wanted, however, on charges of defrauding his mother-in-law, Ginger Allen of Encinitas, of her life’s savings of $83,000.

Russ is being held in Florida’s Broward County Jail and will be extradited as soon as possible to be arraigned in San Diego on four felony charges of grand theft and forgery, according to Mark Pettine, a deputy San Diego County district attorney.

“I am elated that he’s in custody, and we’ll be happy when he’s returned,” said Robert Moore, Allen’s attorney. “It’s a milestone certainly in an ongoing 2 1/2-year saga.”

Genevieve Russ, Charles Russ’ mother, maintained Thursday that her son is innocent of his wife’s death.

“I have a lot of faith in my son,” she said from her Chula Vista home. “He’s a good man. Whether he was a good businessman or not, I don’t know. But as far as the death of Pamela, I reject that entirely.”

Moved to New Mexico

Charles Russ moved to Taos, N.M., four months after his wife’s death, then vanished three months later, after San Diego authorities issued a warrant for his arrest on the fraud charges.

He surfaced twice in the Phoenix area. In 1987, he was arrested for drunk driving but posted bail before police there discovered the outstanding warrant. In 1988, police sought him for questioning about an alleged airline ticket scam.

Three months ago, Russ was traced to Virginia--where he was living under an assumed name and working as a minimum-wage laborer--after more than 100 viewers of the television show “America’s Most Wanted” responded to a segment about Russ.

He was then tracked to a condominium in Hallandale, Fla., where FBI agents spoke with a woman identified as his girlfriend, whom they said was “very uncooperative.” Russ eluded capture each time.

It was Russ himself who provided the clue that finally led to his arrest: a manuscript he had written detailing his life as a fugitive.

San Diego police said Russ was staying in a Hollywood motel under the name of Patrick Donovan, the same name he had used in Arizona and Virginia. On Tuesday, a motel employee found the manuscript in the trash he was emptying.

“It talked about his life on the run as a fugitive after his wife’s death,” said Hollywood police spokesman David Steele Jr. The contents of the manuscript were not released, but Steele said the document contains no admission of guilt.

Had Second Thoughts

Steele said Russ apparently had been interested in sending the story to a publisher but had changed his mind and discarded it.

The worker who found the manuscript called police, and the FBI was also notified. Thursday morning, two Hollywood police officers spotted Russ on the beach and recognized him from a photo that had been given to officers at a briefing the night before, Steele said.

A woman who answered the telephone at the Hollywood motel where Russ was staying would not identify herself and refused to comment, other than to say Russ had caused no trouble during his stay.

San Diego detectives flew to Florida on Thursday to question Russ, San Diego homicide Sgt. Hank Olais said, adding that it was unknown Thursday afternoon how soon Russ would be extradited to San Diego.

‘Very Intriguing’

Olais said information relating to Pamela Russ’ death has already been forwarded to the San Diego County district attorney’s office.

“I don’t want to say they’re dragging their heels and I won’t,” he said. “This case is very intriguing and complicated. . . . There’s a long paper trail to follow. It just requires a lot of time.”

Pettine said Russ could be sentenced to four years and eight months in prison if convicted of the theft and forgery charges. Pettine said he could not discuss the Pamela Russ killing because it is still under investigation.

Pamela’s mother, Ginger Allen, and her brother, Gary Allen, were in Moore’s office Thursday morning but declined to talk to the press at Pettine’s request.

Ginger Allen, a 68-year-old dance teacher with bright blue eyes and a resemblance to her daughter, sat at her lawyer’s side, fighting back tears. She said only: “We’ve had kind of a difficult 24 hours. It was Pam’s birthday yesterday. She would have been 36.”

$2.6-Million Award

Moore represented Ginger Allen in a civil lawsuit against Russ for fraud and embezzlement that resulted in a $2.6-million judgment in her favor in February, 1988. To date, she has collected $510,000 from an insurance policy Russ had taken out on his wife’s life, Moore said.

Moore has claimed that his investigation of Russ revealed a portrait of a longtime con man. Russ was allegedly involved in scams in New Mexico, Colorado and Northern California before marrying Pamela, Moore said.

Soon after her daughter’s death, Ginger Allen began receiving calls from angry creditors who claimed that Russ, who sold a telemarketing business in 1986, owed them money.

In 1985, Russ had persuaded Ginger Allen to take out a mortgage on the San Diego home she had inherited from her late husband’s parents, and give him $75,000, promising a 24% annual return on an investment. At the time, Allen said, she considered her handsome son-in-law charming, articulate and “a financial genius.”

Forged Documents

But, after her daughter’s death, Allen eventually discovered that Russ had forged documents to transfer the money into his personal accounts.

“Chuck’s betrayal was not just money,” Allen said in an interview last year. “I loved him like a son. To learn what he had done made it seem like I had lost two children.”

Genevieve Russ said she knew of her son’s arrest but had not yet heard from him. The last contact she had was a letter mailed from Taos shortly before the warrant was issued for his arrest, she said.