Nephew Identified as Sole Suspect in Kanan Killing : Crime: The slaying of the Agoura businesswoman, a descendant of a pioneer family, has gone unsolved for nearly six years. Now an informant has come forward.

Nearly six years after Judy Kanan, a strong-willed businesswoman and descendant of a pioneer family, was shot to death at a Woodland Hills horse stable, the investigation of the unsolved slaying has narrowed to one person--her nephew, according to police and court documents.

A search warrant filed this month in Van Nuys Municipal Court identifies 34-year-old Michael Kanan, the son of the victim’s brother, as the killer.

After the slaying, according to the court document, the suspect told an acquaintance who later became a police informant: “It’s a real trip to see something you’re responsible for. . . . The bitch got what she deserved.”

Los Angeles police say they are seeking additional evidence before asking the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office to file murder charges against Michael Kanan, who is in jail on an unrelated burglary charge.

The suspect, through his attorney, denied having any part in the slaying.

Judy Kanan, 68, was shot four times by a masked gunman in a raincoat on Jan. 29, 1985, as she followed her daily routine and arrived at a stable at the end of a cul-de-sac on Collins Street. She was there to feed six Arabian horses she owned. The killer gunned her down on the sidewalk and escaped in a stolen car that was later abandoned and set on fire.

Police said little evidence was left behind at the shooting scene. And while the investigation stalled, the mystery of who killed Judy Kanan deepened.

The victim was a descendant of the Waring family, which settled Agoura in the 1860s. By the 1980s, Judy Kanan and her older sister, Patricia Kanan, had parlayed inheritances and acquisitions into land holdings in Agoura worth millions of dollars.

Kanan Road, which runs north-south through Agoura, was named for the family. Kanan Village Shopping Center--the centerpiece of the family’s holdings on Kanan Road--was owned and operated by the sisters along with a small restaurant.

Dealing in business circles largely populated by men, Judy Kanan forged a reputation as a hard-nosed and aggressive businesswoman who rarely walked away from an argument and often took business disputes to court. Once she settled an argument on the syndicated “People’s Court” television show.

When she was gunned down, police acknowledged there was no shortage of potential suspects and concentrated largely on reviewing her business disputes. The killing prompted one Agoura businessman who was interviewed at the time to say: “You’re going to have half the population of Agoura as suspects. The most hated woman in Agoura got assassinated.”

In January of this year, as the fifth anniversary of the killing approached, police said they still were no closer to solving the mystery. “I don’t have any idea who killed Judy Kanan,” Detective Phil Quartararo said at the time.

Court records and police, however, reveal that investigators now believe the slaying was carried out by Michael Kanan and motivated by a financial dispute within the family.

Shortly after the fifth anniversary of Judy Kanan’s death, a person who knows Michael Kanan came forward with details about the slaying. That person said he had been asked by the suspect to kill Judy Kanan.

According to court records, the informant told police the slaying centered on a dispute between Judy Kanan and her brother, George Richard Kanan--Michael Kanan’s father--over a $2,600 loan. Coupled with that was the belief George Kanan impressed upon his son that Judy Kanan had unfairly controlled most of the family’s land, the informant said.

“The informant indicated that George Richard Kanan hated his sister and preached this hatred to his son, Michael . . .,” the search warrant reads in part. “George Kanan had preached to his son that Judy Kanan had stolen all of his property.”

According to the court records, the informant said the slaying unfolded this way:

In 1984, George Kanan signed an agreement to borrow $2,600 from his sister for unknown reasons. But by the end of the year, he believed he was going to default on the loan and thereby lose a large piece of property he owned in Agoura to her.

“The informant stated that George Kanan was extremely upset Judy Kanan made him sign the agreement,” according to the search warrant.

“Shortly after the loan was made, Michael Kanan approached the informant with a plan to kill Judy Kanan . . . Michael Kanan had originally planned to kill both Judy and her sister, Pat, at their Agoura restaurant and had planned to make it look like a robbery. The plan was later changed to kill only Judy and it was to be done at the corrals where she went daily to feed her horses,” the warrant stated.

The informant said that a few weeks before the killing, Michael Kanan showed him a handgun that would be used to kill Judy Kanan. Police and the informant believe the gun was stolen during a burglary of a car parked near Balboa Park in the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area. But neither the gun nor its owner have been found.

The informant told police that in mid-January, 1985, he stole a car and parked it near the stable where Judy Kanan’s horses were kept. The car was to be used as a getaway car after the killing, but the car was noticed by police Jan. 25 and impounded.

The informant said he believed the plan would not go any further, but four days later he said he was shocked when he saw a news report on television about the slaying of Judy Kanan.

”. . . it was done in the same manner as previously planned,” the search warrant reads. “Shortly after watching the newscast, the informant confronted Michael Kanan who admitted to him that he had committed the murder. . . . The informant believes that Michael Kanan committed the murder because he sensed that the informant would not be able to go through with the plan.”

Quartararo, who has been assigned to the case since its start, said Michael Kanan was questioned along with other family members in the early stages of the case, but “we never narrowed in on him.”

About a year after the slaying, Michael Kanan became a fugitive when he jumped bail after his arrest for a commercial burglary in Van Nuys, police said. He wasn’t arrested until last month in Burbank and now is being held in the County Jail without bail.

William H. Schultz, an attorney representing Michael Kanan, denied that his client had any involvement in the Kanan slaying.

“The charges are groundless and illogical,” Schultz said. He declined further comment.

George Richard Kanan could not be located for comment.

Police are confident of the informant’s story because he has furnished details about the crime that were never made public. They declined to identify him as a safety precaution.

Acting on the informant’s story, police earlier this month searched a rental storage unit in Chatsworth used by Michael Kanan. A raincoat and gloves were found, but detectives did not find the gun.

Meantime, Quartararo said he has corroborated some of the informant’s story, finding legal documents relating to the $2,600 loan and confirming that a stolen car was impounded by police on the Collins Street cul-de-sac four days before Judy Kanan was shot there.

Before seeking charges against the suspect, police said they must also corroborate the informant’s version of where the gun used in the slaying came from. Because Michael Kanan was once arrested for attempting to burglarize a car near the Balboa Golf Course in the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area, police believe the weapon might have come from a similar burglary in that area.

Quartararo said he has been searching through burglary reports on cars stolen from the sprawling park area for the months prior to the killing but has not found a report containing a stolen gun. He asked that anyone who might have had a handgun stolen while in the park area in late 1984 or early 1985 contact police. He cited a $50,000 reward for information leading to a conviction in the Kanan slaying.

“We do need to corroborate this part of the story,” Quartararo said. “If we can establish that the gun came from a car in that area as the informant said, the district attorney’s office will file the case” without having the actual weapon used in the slaying in evidence.