LOCAL : Valley Pair Held in 2 Slayings

A San Fernando Valley woman and man were arrested in two deaths, including the 1988 killing for hire of the woman’s husband, Los Angeles police said today.

Police said Mary Ellen Samuels, 41, of Sepulveda and Paul Edwin Gaul, 26, of Sylmar were arrested Friday on suspicion of murder and were to be arraigned today. A third suspect, identified by police as Darrell Ray Edwards, 38, of Arleta, is still being sought.

The three suspects and another man, James Bernstein, 26, were allegedly involved in the Dec. 9, 1988, death of Samuels’ husband, Robert Samuels, 40, who was beaten and shot to death in the couple’s home, police said.

On July 23, 1989, Bernstein’s decomposed body was found in remote Lockwood Canyon in northeast Ventura County. Authorities alleged that the three other suspects were responsible for his death, the cause of which is undetermined but classified as a homicide.

Lt. L. A. Durrer said that after Samuels’ death, his widow collected $500,000 on insurance policies, including payment of the mortgage on a Van Nuys sandwich shop the couple operated.

Bernstein’s death was attributed to a falling-out among those involved in the earlier slaying, but authorities declined to elaborate.

Durrer said an investigation involving police and Ventura County sheriff’s deputies resulted in an accumulation of undisclosed evidence leading to the arrests. The weapon used to kill Samuels was not found, he said.