Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : ‘Hooker’ Defendants Deny Guilt

The wife and stepson accused of murder in the so-called “T. J. Hooker case” pleaded not guilty Thursday in Antelope Municipal Court and face a preliminary hearing Sept. 9.

Visiting Judge Carlos LaRoche read the murder, arson and related charges against Joy Hooker, 48, and her 31-year-old stepson David Hooker at a brief hearing.

They are accused of setting a fire April 19 that killed retired Los Angeles Police Sgt. Thomas Warren Hooker. The 58-year-old Hooker, a diabetic, was legally blind and undergoing kidney dialysis three times a week at the time of his death.

The case has been widely publicized, partly because of Thomas Hooker’s stories that his career inspired the 1980s television series “T. J. Hooker,” starring William Shatner and Heather Locklear. Although there are similarities, the show’s creator, writer Rick Husky, says T. J. Hooker was a fictional character he conjured for the pilot of a show originally called “The Protectors.”

According to court records, Thomas Hooker was physically dependent on Joy. She allegedly told a former husband that she was tired of taking care of him and needed money because the couple’s Littlerock home was in foreclosure.

Court records indicate that Joy was having an affair with David, Hooker’s adopted son, who was paroled in September from federal prison, where he’d served a 10-year sentence for armed robbery and threatening President Ronald Reagan.

The documents state that Joy and David Hooker admitted to police that they set the fire, igniting a love seat with fireplace embers. But they deny intentionally killing Thomas Hooker.

Court records state that David helped Joy--and even the family dog--escape through bedroom windows, but the ailing Thomas Hooker died on the floor of his bedroom.