Phone Calls Key for Investigators in Jordan Case

Investigators said Tuesday they had little trouble tracking down two teen-aged suspects in the slaying of James Jordan, father of Chicago Bull star Michael Jordan, after obtaining records from James Jordan’s cellular telephone.

“We weren’t dealing with two Einsteins here,” Jim Coman, North Carolina Bureau of Investigation director, said of the suspects--Larry Martin Demery, 18, of Rowland and Daniel Andre Green, 18, of Lumberton--charged in the elder Jordan’s murder.

Some of the calls from the phone taken from James Jordan’s $46,000 car were made to 1-900 porn lines, according to sources close to the investigation.

Hugh Rogers, Demery’s lawyer, told WRAL-TV in Raleigh that Green was the triggerman. Angus Thompson, the public defender representing Green, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Hubert Stone, Robeson County sheriff, said the suspects videotaped themselves with property they are accused of stealing from Jordan. He told the Charlotte Observer that authorities have found a gun and are conducting ballistics tests. Authorities have said a .38-caliber gun was used in the shooting.

Demery and Green allegedly had been waiting along U.S. 74 near Lumberton on July 23 to rob someone when James Jordan arrived, parked his red Lexus near a flea market and started to nap with his window open.

Jordan, 56, was shot once in the chest. His body was dumped in a creek near McColl, S.C., where it was discovered Aug. 3.

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Former Dodger star Steve Garvey has lost a court battle to force his ex-wife to help him pay $500,000 in back taxes.

A U.S. Tax Court ruled that it would not interfere with an agreement between the Internal Revenue Service and Garvey’s former wife, Cindy Garvey. The agreement freed her from liability in a case involving a tax shelter.

Garvey challenged the March 22 agreement, arguing that he should be entitled to show that his ex-wife had been deeply involved in the family’s finances.

But Judge Howard Dawson ruled Aug. 12 that Garvey failed to provide an adequate legal basis for his argument, saying the court will not question the IRS decision to settle with Cindy Garvey.

The case stems from an IRS ruling disallowing losses that the Garveys reported in 1980 and 1981 from investments in a tax shelter promoted by First Western Government Securities.

Steve and Cindy Garvey divorced in 1981.

Tennis

Tracy Austin, playing in a tournament she won 12 years ago, took another step in her comeback with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Audra Keller in the first round of the Matinee Ltd. Canadian Open in Toronto.

Austin, a two-time U.S. Open champion, has been beset by assorted back injuries through the years and a broken leg from a car accident in 1989. She won two matches at the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles last week and is ranked for the first time in 10 years, at No. 159.

More than 1,000 players from 82 teams are expected in the USTA league tennis sectional championships Thursday through Sunday at Los Caballeros Sports Village in Fountain Valley.

Miscellany

Rookie NASCAR driver P.J. Jones of Torrance brushed the wall during testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but wasn’t hurt. The son of 1963 Indianapolis 500 winner Parnelli Jones is one of the drivers participating in two days of tests in preparation for next year’s inaugural Brickyard 400 Winston Cup stock car race.

The Pro Billiards Tour’s Western Open begins today at the Burbank Hilton and Exposition Center. A field of 128 will compete for a purse of $75,000.

Names in the News

Guard Sam Cassell, the Houston Rockets’ first-round draft pick, signed a conditional five-year contract with the team that will guarantee him $2.53 million in the first three years. The Rockets also signed centers Richard Petruska of UCLA and Eric Riley of Michigan. Petruska was the Rockets’ second-round pick. . . . Ted Oh, 16, of Torrance shot a final-round 70 and 72-hole score of 289 to win the boys’ division at the 25th annual Independent Insurance Agent Junior Classic golf tournament at Little Rock, Ark. Kellee Booth, 17, of Coto de Caza won the girls’ division with a final-round 72 and a 291 total.