Ex-Bodyguard Sought in Slaying of Film Producer : Murder: The victim’s son and father also were killed. Authorities believe the motive was revenge over a salary dispute.

The slayings of a movie producer and his son and father allegedly were carried out by the executive’s former bodyguard in apparent retribution after he received only $10,000 of his $30,000 salary, authorities announced Monday.

The suspect--identified as Robert Michael Suggs, also known as Robert Michael Allen, 31, who has worked as a private investigator in Arizona, Washington and Nevada--remained at large and was the object of an interstate manhunt, Culver City Police Chief Ted Cooke said. Suggs’ former girlfriend, Susan Lynn Calkins, 20, who lived with him in Hermosa Beach, was also being sought.

Suggs was employed as a bodyguard for two years by Roland Emr, an executive with GMT Studio in Culver City, Detective Steven Yoshida said. Emr, 45, of Torrance, and his son, Roger Jon Emr Jr., 20, of Torrance, were gunned down Thursday as they sat in their car at Sepulveda Boulevard and Slauson Avenue in Culver City.

Arthur Charles Emr Sr., 71, Roland Emr’s father, was found shot to death in his home in Paradise Valley, Ariz., on Friday.

Roland Emr had promised to pay Suggs $30,000 for his services as a bodyguard, but paid him only $10,000, police said.

“Since the money didn’t come through, Suggs went bankrupt and he blamed it on Emr,” Yoshida said.

The same type of weapon, a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol, was used in the three murders, Yoshida said.

Investigators were also looking into the possibility that Suggs may have been hired by a number of film and business investors who were swindled out of millions of dollars by Roland Emr over several years.

Emr, according to police, had obtained the rights to produce a number of movies, including one about James Dean.

Emr and his son were able to lure investors for the projects but none of the films were ever made.

“The problem is that they would take the investors’ money and never pay them returns on their investments,” Yoshida said.

Earl Rutledge, a Ft. Worth lawyer, filed a civil racketeering suit on behalf of two Texas businessmen against Emr three years ago for allegedly swindling his clients out of $700,000.