Housemate Is Arrested in Slaying : Crime: Soon after his wife died and his son moved out, a retired physicist is killed in his Studio City home.

A retired aerospace physicist who also dabbled in writing and composing was killed in his Studio City home early Thursday, allegedly by his housemate, police said.

Robert Russell Weiss, 62, was beaten and possibly strangled, apparently during an argument with Thomas Brian Taaffe, 37, who moved in with Weiss, his late wife and their son about six years ago, Los Angeles police detectives said. The exact cause of death had not yet been determined, a coroner’s spokesman said.

“They were in an argument and it just escalated into a physical thing,” Lt. Ron LaRue said.

Taaffe called police about 3:30 a.m. Thursday to summon medical help for Weiss, LaRue said. He is being held without bail on suspicion of murder and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in San Fernando Municipal Court.

Neighbors on Laurelcrest Drive, a picturesque street of commanding views, described Taaffe as a man who often spoke in a disjointed, rambling manner. Taaffe was not employed, but he told neighbors about plans to build a cowboy theme park in the Santa Clarita Valley, they said.

“His mind went from one subject to another at a great pace,” neighbor Elizabeth Mitchell said. “He just was one of those people who seemed to be on the fringe.”

Mitchell and another neighbor, Kenneth Clark, said they recalled that Taaffe met the Weisses through their church but were not sure of why he moved in with them.

Weiss’ wife, Jackie Dashiell, had been an editor at the now-defunct Herald Examiner before her death of a stroke in February. Neighbors said that in recent years she had broken her hip and was confined to her home, from which she published a newspaper for senior citizens.

Weiss’ son, Robert Weiss Jr., declined to discuss Taaffe Thursday except to acknowledge he had lived in his parents’ house. Asked how Taaffe had come to live there, Weiss, 26, said, “We’re still trying to figure that one out.”

Detective Mike Coffey said Weiss’ son told police he did not like Taaffe, and moved out of his parents’ house a week ago because he had no reason to stay there after his mother’s death. “He was not comfortable in that house,” Coffey said.

The elder Weiss had retired from Hughes Aircraft, according to his son and police. He was a member of the Masquers Club, an association of actors that was once a Hollywood institution, and former president of the Authors Club in Los Angeles, other Masquers said. He also wrote songs and children’s books and had produced TV shows, his son and neighbors said.

LaRue said Weiss also managed some investments and that Taaffe seemed to have helped him.