Love of Money Led to Slaying of Wife, Prosecutor Claims : Courts: Defense says John Burrus had no motive. Wife’s body found near Borrego Springs highway.

A 70-year-old man was driven to kill his wife of 30 years by a love of money, prosecutors said Friday as his trial opened in Vista Superior Court.

John Burrus was a man “consumed with greed, who had a lust for money,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Garrett Randall told the court. “It was this lust and greed that led him to the brutal murder of his 75-year-old wife.”

Grace Burrus’ body was found June 28, 1990, near Borrego Springs. She was thrown from her car as it went over a cliff near Montezuma Grade. Authorities suspect that she was killed with a blunt object, placed in her Saab, and the car was driven off the road.

John Burrus, who was in the midst of protracted divorce proceedings with his wife, is the last person known to have seen her alive.

A trial to resolve the issue of community property between the Burruses, with holdings estimated to be worth more than $500,000, had been scheduled for July 6, just nine days after she was killed.

Burrus, a former reporter for the San Diego Union, appeared in court in a dark suit and was clean-shaven, a dramatic difference from the full beard that he had worn for years.

His defense attorney, John Mitchell, said in his opening statement that the Burruses had reached a settlement over the divorce the night before her death, that the two had maintained separate property, and that John Burrus knew that Grace Burrus’ will excluded him, so he had no financial motive for the killing.

Mitchell also said “the analysis that Grace Burrus was dead when the car went over the side of the hill is subject to some very detailed examination.”

The extensive head wounds suffered by Grace Burrus could have been caused by her head hitting the gear shift or the brake, Mitchell said.

“When she was ejected, her head could have been struck by the car rolling on her head,” Mitchell said.

However, Randall said forensic studies showed that there was nothing in the car or on the cliff that could account for the blows to her head that the medical examiner’s office found to be the cause of death.

Also, the 12 broken ribs that Grace Burrus suffered should have led to extensive bleeding if she had been alive when the car went over the cliff, Randall said.

Doctors will testify, Randall said, that Grace Burrus must have died at least half an hour before the crash.

John Burrus has said that he and his wife left the Oceanside apartment complex that they owned early on the morning of June 27, 1990. The two were to drive their cars and meet at another apartment complex they owned in the Salton Sea area.

John Burrus was to leave his car there, with plans for Grace Burros to drive him to the airport, where he was to catch a flight to Alaska to conduct business, Randall said.

It was on a road leading to the Salton Sea that Grace Burrus’ body was found.

But friends and relatives will testify that Grace Burrus would never leave the Oceanside area without telling her sister, June Edwards, who is legally blind and lived next door, Randall said.

Also, the clothing on Grace Burrus’ body seemed to have been forced on her, Randall said. Grace Burrus always wore a bra, even to bed, Randall said, and her body was found without a bra.

When John Burrus arrived at the Salton Sea apartment, Grace did not show up, and he asked residents if anyone had seen her, Randall said. But no one had.

Burrus returned to Oceanside and asked Edwards if she had seen her sister, Randall said, but she had not. Edwards wanted to file a missing person report with Oceanside police, but Burrus persuaded her that it would not be necessary.

When other relatives finally did call police later that day, the officer suggested that they call area hospitals to see if Grace Burrus had been admitted, Randall said.

“John Burrus specifically objected to them making the calls to the hospitals, saying that they were wasting his money by calling to find his missing wife,” Randall said.

It wasn’t until June 28 that a group of friends and relatives retraced Grace Burrus’ route to the Salton Sea and found her body.