Reseda Man Accused of Murder, Rape

A Reseda man who was arrested last year for rape but later freed for lack of evidence was charged Tuesday in the rape and murder of another woman whose body was found in Sun Valley last month, authorities said.

Richard Stitley, 41, was charged with the murder of Carol Unger, 47, of Reseda. Special circumstances were added to the charge because the killing occurred during a sexual assault and he could face the death penalty if convicted, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Janice L. Maurizi said.

Stitley also was charged in a rape case that prosecutors had rejected seven months ago. Authorities said the Unger slaying provided them with enough new evidence to proceed with the earlier case, based on an attack on a 16-year-old girl.

Stitley, who was held at County Jail without bail, was arrested Friday after a two-week investigation into Unger’s slaying, Los Angeles Police Detective Mike Coffey said. Unger’s partially clothed body was found Jan. 20 in an alley in Sun Valley. She had been raped and strangled.

Investigators learned she had been seen leaving a bar in Reseda on Jan. 19 at the same time as another patron known only as Richard, who they traced to a local radiator repair shop where Stitley worked.

“In backgrounding Stitley, we then found out that he was involved as a suspect in a rape case from last year,” Coffey said, in which a 16-year-old girl--an acquaintance of Stitley’s-- reported he raped and attempted to strangle her.

Maurizi said the initial rape case against Stitley was rejected last year by prosecutors because there was no corroborating evidence. However, similarities between the slaying last month and the 16-year-old’s report allowed police to file charges in the earlier crime.