Jurors Hear Tape of Wife Accused of Killing Spouse

Jurors on Wednesday heard a tape recording in which a Tarzana woman accused of murdering her millionaire husband told police that she loved him, didn’t mind that he had a mistress and had no financial motive for killing him.

“I do not think you could find two people in the United States who . . . loved each other more than my husband and I did,” Carole Evelyn Mellinger told detectives on Jan. 24, a few hours after fatally shooting her husband, Brainerd, 69, in the den of their hillside home. The tape was played for jurors in Van Nuys Superior Court.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Ann Korban, who introduced the tape during cross-examination, contends that Carole Mellinger was angry because her husband had been having an affair for 12 years and because she feared that his plans to sell his business would decrease the value of his estate. Korban said she played the tape to highlight inconsistencies in Mellinger’s testimony. Mellinger was expected to continue testifying today.