Man Hunted in Slaying of Wife, Girl Near Idyllwild : Violence: The bodies are found in a house fire in Riverside County mountain hamlet. The suspect was in the midst of a divorce attributed to his alleged spousal abuse.

A would-be Hollywood filmmaker who reportedly admitted to spousal abuse was being sought by authorities Monday in what they described as the “heinous” killings of his estranged wife and their 13-year-old daughter.

The deaths were discovered last Wednesday night when firefighters were called to a house fire in the small mountain hamlet of Pine Cove, near Idyllwild in central Riverside County. Inside the two-story home, they found the bodies of Rebecca Ghazal, 38, a first-grade teacher, and 13-year-old Khadijah Ghazal, who had been elected to the cheerleading squad at Idyllwild School earlier that day.

Deputy Mark Lohman, spokesman for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, said the prime suspect is Aziz Ghazal, 38, of Los Angeles. Associates said Ghazal was fired in October as manager of the equipment and stock room at USC’s School of Cinema-Television, where he had worked for about 10 years. He had long sought work in Hollywood, producing an alternative film and once co-writing a script about a man wanting to sacrifice himself in a “snuff” film--one in which a participant is actually killed on camera--so he could financially rescue his family.

Ghazal’s car was found stuck in mud about 300 yards from the home. Blood in and around the car indicated the driver may have been injured.

At the sheriff’s request, autopsy results on the mother and daughter were sealed, but Lohman said the deaths were being considered homicides.

“It was a heinous crime,” he said.

The couple had been married about 16 years and were in the midst of a divorce that friends said was brought about by the husband’s abuse.

“The family had been having trouble with abuse; there was forewarning,” said a woman at the Idyllwild Town Center, where two meetings were held to help residents deal with the shock of the deaths.

In the divorce proceedings, custody of the daughter and two younger sons was awarded to the mother. The two boys were out of the home at the time of the killings and are now safe at an undisclosed location.

Lohman characterized Ghazal as armed and dangerous. Over the weekend, deputies hunted for Ghazal with tracking dogs, thinking he might have taken refuge in one of the many weekend homes and cabins that dot the western slopes of Mt. San Jacinto. However, the search produced no results.

The killings reverberated from Riverside County to Los Angeles. At USC, spokesman Rob Asghar said he could not discuss the circumstances involving Ghazal’s departure from the filmmaking school.

Ghazal’s friends and associates said he had hoped to make his entry into Hollywood as a creative talent. He had produced a critically acclaimed alternative film, “The Natural History of Parking Lots.”

He had most recently co-written a feature film called “The Brave,” described by industry sources as the story of a poverty-stricken, out-of-work father who agreed to be killed in a snuff film so his family could reap the financial benefits.

Sources said Jodie Foster’s Egg Pictures had considered backing the film, but negotiations collapsed. Touchstone Pictures was said to be considering taking on the film, and was considering Ghazal to be its director. A Touchstone spokesman declined comment.

The Ghazals lived in West Los Angeles but about two years ago purchased a second home in Pine Cove. Rebecca Ghazal moved there to live with the children and was in her second year as a first-grade teacher at Hamilton School in nearby Anza. Aziz Ghazal would come to the home on weekends.

The marriage was racked with violence, Rebecca Ghazal’s friends said, and earlier this year she filed for divorce. Sources familiar with the marriage said Aziz Ghazal recently pleaded guilty to three counts of abuse in exchange for probation, and agreed to stay away from his estranged wife.

Despite the promise, he was seen earlier this year beating his 13-year-old daughter in front of her school, according to a co-worker of the mother and classmates of the girl. Friends said they continued to worry about the safety of the wife and the three children.

But Rebecca Ghazal--who preferred to be known as Becky Vollstedt, her maiden name--focused instead on talking about how she had beaten breast cancer through chemotherapy during the past year--and, to reward herself for the victory, had become a volunteer firefighter.

“She was always so positive, and said that after beating cancer, she wanted to now help others,” said the co-worker, who asked to remain anonymous. “She continued to help others in her cancer therapy group, and said that now she wanted to try something she had always been afraid of, to take a risk. She decided to become a firefighter. She thought that would be a great accomplishment and a way to help others.”

After returning from her first fire, Rebecca Ghazal hung a piece of metal, melted from the heat, in her classroom as a trophy of her new avocation.

Khadijah had been elected student body vice president at her school.

Lohman said authorities were satisfied that Ghazal was not holed up in a nearby cabin and were following “every possible lead” to track him down.