Psychiatrists Say Suspect in Studio Guards’ Slayings Was Insane

Three court-appointed psychiatrists have concluded that a man who gunned down two Universal Studios security guards while stalking actor Michael Landon in 1988 was insane at the time of the killings, authorities said Thursday.

The conclusions have prompted the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office to consider a possible plea agreement with Nathan N. Trupp that would avoid a trial. Trupp, 43, a former mental patient, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Trupp allegedly shot and killed guards Jaren Beeks, 27, and Armando Torres, 18, on Dec. 1, 1988. He later told investigators that he believed that the guards, who manned the main gate, were Nazis. He said he shot them after they refused to let him into the studio complex to see Landon, whom Trupp also believed to be a Nazi.

At the time of the shootings, Trupp was the object of a nationwide manhunt over the killings, two days earlier, of three people at an Albuquerque, N.M., bagel shop.

Trupp, who had been living in Albuquerque, told investigators that he shot the three victims because they sold him poisoned bagels. He then took a bus to Los Angeles to look for Landon.

After being charged in the Universal killings, Trupp was found incompetent to stand trial by two psychiatrists who diagnosed him as having a psychotic mental disorder.

Four months later, after being treated with psychotropic drugs at a San Bernardino County mental hospital, he was ruled competent. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity Dec. 6, 1989, and the three new psychiatric examinations were ordered.

If Trupp is found not guilty by reason of insanity he would be committed to a state mental hospital for life unless psychiatrists conducting yearly examinations determine that his sanity has been restored.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Sterling E. Norris said the psychiatrists who filed reports with the court last month were chosen jointly by prosecutors and Trupp’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Stephen Lee Hobson. Hobson could not be reached for comment.

“All the conclusions of all three psychiatrists are that he was insane at the time of the offense,” Norris said. “Those are the bottom-line evaluations.”

Norris declined to acknowledge that the examinations’ findings bolster Trupp’s defense and also stopped short of saying his office is negotiating a plea agreement in the case.

“We are communicating in relation to a possible plea,” Norris said. “There still could be a trial. There might not.”

In making the decision on whether to go to trial, Norris said, he will seek input from prosecutors in New Mexico, where Trupp faces three murder charges. The case in Albuquerque has been on hold while the Los Angeles case proceeded.

A hearing in which a trial date will be set or a plea by Trupp will be accepted by the prosecution is scheduled April 3 in Los Angeles Municipal Court.