Husband Admits Killing Wife, 3 Others at Party

Selection of jurors for the trial of Raymond Navarro on multiple murder charges was about to begin in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday when the 27-year-old defendant surprised the prosecution by pleading guilty to all counts.

The muscular ex-Marine was serious and direct as he listened to Superior Court Judge Michael Tynan advise him of his rights and then accept Navarro’s guilty pleas to four counts of murder in the slaying of his estranged wife and three others at an East Los Angeles birthday party in the summer of 1989.

Tynan set April 8 for sentencing Navarro to one of two possible penalties: death or life in prison without possibility of parole.

“It was a surprise to us,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Vivian Davidson.

The prosecutor said 120 prospective jurors were waiting outside the courtroom when Navarro’s lawyer, Public Defender Jack Weedin, told the judge that his client wished to plead guilty to all charges.

Besides multiple murder with special circumstances--making him liable for the death penalty--Navarro also entered guilty pleas to two counts of attempted murder in the shooting rampage, which occurred about 11 p.m. on Aug. 27, 1989.

The shooting started a few minutes after Navarro’s wife, Maria, 27, had been warned that her estranged husband was on the way to her house to kill her. Frantic, she dialed 911, only to be told by a dispatcher to call back if Navarro showed up.

About 15 minutes later, Navarro burst in on about 10 guests gathered in a garage converted into a rental unit in the 3600 block of Lanfranco Street, cursed once in Spanish and started methodically shooting with a handgun, authorities said.

After the firing ceased and Navarro fled, three victims were dead and a fourth was pronounced dead later at East Los Angeles Doctors Hospital. Killed were Maria Navarro; her aunts, Francisca Arizpe, 62, of Los Angeles, and Maria Garcia, 69, of Mexicali, Mexico; and Leticia M. Dipp, 46, of Los Angeles, a close family friend.

Two other birthday party guests--Berta Galvan, a third aunt, and Richard Covarrubias--were hospitalized with serious wounds.

Navarro was arrested about five hours after the shootings.

The incident prompted a Sheriff’s Department inquiry into why the 911 dispatcher had told Maria Navarro to call back if her husband showed up. Within about three days of the shootings, Sheriff Sherman Block strongly defended the dispatcher’s actions.

“We just cannot respond to every threat unless there is a clear and present danger,” Block said.”

When she called 911, Maria Navarro told the dispatcher that she had a restraining order to prevent her husband from coming within 100 feet of her.

“He just threatened me: ‘I’m coming over with a .35, uh, some kind of gun and shooting everybody out.’ I’m having a party and it’s my birthday and, uh . . . .”

The deputy told her that the Sheriff’s Department could not post a unit at her home in case Navarro showed up, but added, “So, if he comes over, don’t let him in, then call us.”

“Oh, my God,” Maria replied.

On Lanfranco Street after Tuesday’s court hearing, Monica Ramirez, 17, who has lived for 15 years next door to the home where the shooting occurred, said the neighborhood was “real quiet” for a month after the shooting, with no children playing outside and no music. She described Maria Navarro as a “real happy” person, adding that when she died, “the street died, too.”

Referring to the possibility that Navarro might get the death sentence, she said: “I think that would be good because he killed her and also killed innocent people.”