Three Women Shot to Death in Pasadena

Three young women were found shot to death early Friday at a home in the Annandale section of Pasadena, an affluent hillside neighborhood overlooking the Rose Bowl.

Police discovered the bodies of the victims--two of them 18, one 17--in the pool house of a home on Fairlawn Way, on a ridge above Annandale Country Club. Lt. Van B. Anthony said officers had received a call asking them to check on the welfare of residents at the house.

When police arrived at the wooded grounds at 3:30 a.m., they found the three dead women, all fully clothed, Anthony said. There was no evidence of a struggle or break-in, he said.

Police identified the 18-year-olds as Katherine Macaulay of the Fairlawn Way address, and Heather Goodwin of San Marino. The identity of the 17-year-old was withheld pending notification of relatives, Anthony said.

Macaulay was a senior at South Pasadena High School and Goodwin was formerly a student at the school.

Macaulay’s mother, Linda K. Macaulay, and her stepfather, Michael N. Koss, a Pasadena physician, were out of town when the slayings occurred. They were returning Friday from a trip to Chicago, Anthony said.

Wayne Macaulay, father of the slain girl, was flying to California from Bangkok, Thailand, where he is stationed as a Marine.

Goodwin’s mother, Mimi, would speak only briefly to a reporter. “All I can say is that we received a phone call and we went to the (Macaulay) house,” Mrs. Goodwin said. “Three girls were found shot to death. My husband went in to identify the body.” The father, Glendale insurance lawyer Darrell Goodwin, would not speak to a reporter.

Friday morning, police issued a bulletin for a maroon 1986 Mercedes-Benz, which may have been stolen from the house where the killings occurred. Anthony identified the car as a 300D sedan, with California license plate number 2CVN785. Later Friday, the car was reportedly seen in Beverly Hills.

Though police reportedly issued arrest warrants Friday afternoon for three male juveniles, two of them 17 and one 16, Anthony would not speculate about motives.

“It’s totally up to speculation,” Anthony said. “It could be anything from an argument to a party that went awry.”

A coroner’s van removed the bodies from the scene at 1:07 p.m. Friday, almost 10 hours after police were tipped by the anonymous caller.

Friends of Macaulay described her as a worldly young woman who led a distinctively affluent life. They said Macaulay lived by herself above a garage in a pool house, where the bodies were found, and called it “Kathy’s house.”

“Ask my daughter how much money she has on her, and she’ll probably tell you about 10 cents,” said Tom Biesek, a former South Pasadena police officer whose 17-year-old daughter, Theresa, was one of Macaulay’s best friends. “But Kathy always had maybe $40 or $100 on her.”

Macaulay often accompanied the Bieseks on vacations, such as a one-week trip to the Grand Canyon last year, Biesek said.

Theresa Biesek said Macaulay was protective of her friends. “She was a very friendly, warm person,” Theresa Biesek said. “She really gave a lot. She always treated me like her kid.”

Goodwin attended the high school only briefly two years ago, in her sophomore year, Principal Ben Ramirez said.

Ramirez said Macaulay was a “charming, nice, young lady,” but not an outstanding student.

The scene of the murders is a sprawling ranch house with balconies off the living room and a small oval pool. The house is known in the neighborhood, where homes reportedly start at $500,000, as the “Kellogg House” because its original owner was reportedly a member of the cereal-maker’s family. Homes are gated and laid out on terraced hillside plots, set back from the street.

Her mother and stepfather moved into the $685,000 stucco ranch house surrounded by pines, cedars and eucalyptus trees in 1989, but Katherine Macaulay continued to attend South Pasadena High School.

Mark and Nadine Russek, who live next door, said they only knew the family well enough to wave as they drove by. Nadine Russek said she spoke for the first time to Katherine Macaulay last Tuesday, after the Russek home was burglarized. The teen-ager had stopped her beige minivan and inquired what was the matter, she said.

The killings are the first multiple murders in Pasadena since two people were killed in a dispute among members of a religious sect in 1973, Anthony said. It brings to eight the number of murders in the city this year. Pasadena recorded 13 homicides in 1990.

Times staff writers Penelope McMillan and Denise Hamilton contributed to this story