Wife Plays Dead, Man Slain in Attack

As her husband lay dead on the floor and her infant child lay sleeping in another room, a wounded woman played dead for more than an hour on a leaking, bullet-torn water bed while the man who shot her ransacked their Torrance house, police said.

Lynn Finzel, 28, who suffered wounds to her ribs and liver from a single gunshot, was listed in critical but stable condition Sunday evening at UCLA-Harbor Medical Center.

An unidentified gunman entered the Finzels’ home on West 180th Place about 11:15 p.m. Saturday, tied her to the bed and raped her, Torrance Police Department Sgt. Scott Margolin said.

Lynn Finzel’s husband, Joseph Raymond Finzel, came home soon after. The gunman shot him as he walked into the bedroom, police said.

The gunman then shot Lynn Finzel as she lay bound to the bed, and then shot her husband a second time as he lay unconscious on the floor. The bullet struck Joseph Finzel in the heart, killing him at the scene, police said.

The bullet that struck Lynn Finzel punctured her water bed, causing the water to begin rising around her head, she told police.

Police said the woman told them she played dead on the bed for one to three hours, uncertain whether the gunman was in the house. They said she feared that the ruse might cause her to drown in the water rising from the bed.

As Lynn Finzel lay motionless, the gunman spent the next hour ransacking the home, leaving in the couple’s 1990 white Chevrolet pickup. Police were uncertain if any other property was taken from the house.

The Finzels’ 6-month-old child was asleep in another room during the entire incident and was unharmed, Margolin said.

About 2 a.m. Sunday, Lynn Finzel freed herself and called police. Police did not recover the murder weapon. There was no sign of a forced entry into the house.

The assailant was described as a white male, 18 to 22 years of age, 140-145 pounds with a muscular build and wearing blue jeans and no shirt. He is believed to have the couple’s pickup truck with California license plate 4E38740.

Torrance police asked anyone with information about the suspect or the pickup to contact its detective division at (310) 618-5570 or the watch commander at (310) 618-5737.