Blood Is Apparently Found in Storage Site

Investigators in the Denise Huber murder case have found what appears to be blood in an Orange County storage facility rented by suspected killer John J. Famalaro, and authorities believe the former Northridge woman may have been slain there, law enforcement sources said Thursday.

Authorities were testing the substance to see if it indeed is blood, and to determine if it matches Huber’s, the sources said.

In Arizona, the Yavapai County Grand Jury indicted Famalaro on first-degree murder and theft charges Thursday, making him eligible for the death penalty. He was arrested July 13 after Huber’s body was found in a freezer at Famalaro’s Arizona country club home.

The probe picked up pace in Orange County, where law enforcement sources and the manager of the Laguna Hills storage facility confirmed they have found what appeared to be evidence of bloodstains in the storage facility.

Huber, 23--whose family moved to Orange County after living for many years in the San Fernando Valley--vanished three years ago in Costa Mesa, after her car blew a tire as she headed home to Newport Beach from a concert. Her nude and handcuffed body was found last week in a freezer outside Famalaro’s home, about 75 miles north of Phoenix. She had suffered multiple blows to the head, and her eyes and mouth were covered with cloth and sealed with duct tape, authorities said.

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In other significant developments Thursday:

* Court documents filed in Arizona revealed numerous additional items seized from Famalaro’s home and vehicles in recent days, including a black whip, a micro-cassette marked “Save, important,” multiple audiotapes whose contents were unknown and a brown paper sack with two keys and a pubic hair. Earlier searches have unearthed a crowbar and claw hammer that appear to be bloodied, strips of white cloth and a tarpaulin, also stained with a red substance, and items belonging to Huber, including clothing, jewelry and a purse.

* Contacted by telephone, some of six additional women whose names were found in subsequent searches of Famalaro’s belongings said they had no clue as to how Famalaro came into possession of their effects. “Good God! Even my middle initial,” said Donna R. Evinger, 57, of Tustin. “I’m pretty shook up. . . . I’m alive, I can say that.”

* Joining newly appointed defense counsel Thomas K. Kelly was Warren R. Darrow, an attorney who Kelly said is a distant relative of famed defense lawyer Clarence Darrow.

* A team of investigators from Orange County, including chief forensic pathologist Richard Fukumoto and other crime scene specialists, were preparing to travel to Arizona today to meet with their counterparts there.

Christy Clow, property manager for the Laguna Hills storage facility, said police have been conducting forensic tests inside a unit that had been leased to Famalaro from February, 1991, to September, 1992. Huber disappeared June 3, 1991.

“They’ve pulled up the carpet, searching for blood and hair,” said Clow, who has discussed the case with police.

Authorities were said to be using high-tech devices and a chemical called luminol that enhances blood and other evidence.

John Conley, an Orange County assistant district attorney, confirmed Thursday that investigators have focused on a possible Orange County murder scene linked to Famalaro. He declined to discuss where that site was, but said investigators have been examining the location for the past several days, trying to determine if Huber was slain there.

Conley said that “should the murder scene be proven to have been in Orange County, we could have jurisdiction” and try Famalaro there, instead of in Arizona.

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Deliberating secretly in Prescott, Ariz., the grand jury heard testimony from Yavapai County Sheriff’s Lt. Scott Mascher before returning an indictment on murder and a felony grand theft count alleging Famalaro stole the Ryder rental truck that contained Huber’s body.

Wednesday, Mascher testified in a lengthy bail hearing that several former girlfriends of Famalaro had told investigators they had been threatened or felt threatened by him. One woman said she had been knocked down and handcuffed by him.

Famalaro is being held without bond and is scheduled to be arraigned August 1 in Yavapai County Superior Court.

Times staff writers Rene Lynch, Kevin Johnson and Gebe Martinez contributed to this story from Prescott, Ariz. Lait and Brazil reported from Orange County.