Wife Arrested in Slaying of Millionaire

A Tarzana woman who said she shot her millionaire husband to death because she thought he was a burglar was arrested on suspicion of murder, police said Thursday.

Carole Evelyn Mellinger, 48, was arrested after the shooting Wednesday in the 19700 block of Komar Drive, Detective Rick Swanston said. The body of her husband, Brainerd Lee Mellinger, 69, was found at 8 p.m. in the house in the exclusive area of Tarzana, Swanston said.

Police described the victim as a multimillionaire who owned Mellinger Co., an import-export business in Woodland Hills, who appeared in cable-television advertisements on establishing import-export businesses.

Swanston said Brainerd Mellinger was shot several times in the chest shortly after he came home from an undisclosed outing. After the shooting, Carole Mellinger telephoned a relative who lives elsewhere, and the relative called police.

When officers arrived, Mellinger was dead. His wife said she had shot him because she mistook him for a burglar, Swanston said.

But inconsistencies in her statements and evidence at the shooting scene led detectives to arrest Carole Mellinger, Swanston said.

The couple were alone in the house at the time of the shooting and neighbors interviewed by police did not report hearing any disturbance, Lt. William Gaida said. There was no sign of forced entry to the house, he added.

Carole Mellinger had been drinking before the shooting and the couple, who had been married 23 years, apparently had an ongoing marital problem, police said. It was unknown if that was the motive for the slaying, police said.

The suspect was being held without bail at the Van Nuys jail. Detectives were expected to ask the district attorney’s office to charge her with murder today.