California IN BRIEF : MODESTO : Robbery Motive Seen in Slaying

A man arrested in connection with the murder of a Modesto real estate agent was himself a real estate salesman during the 1970s, police said. John Aldon Colwell, 42, at one time worked for USA Realty in Modesto and was president of the Modesto Jaycees, but Detective Capt. David Scott said he apparently did not know his alleged victim, Dorothy Greene, 52. Investigators believe robbery was the motive for the kidnaping and murder of Greene. She was abducted Oct. 26 while showing a vacant house and her body, with a bullet wound in the head, was found the next day floating in Lake Tahoe. Police arrested Colwell after a tipster reported seeing a photograph of the suspect taken by a bank automatic teller machine while the man withdrew cash using Greene’s bank card.