Murder Probe Focuses on Storage Facility

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

Authorities were testing the substance to see if it 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 subject to the death penalty. He was arrested July 13.

The probe picked up speed in Orange County, where law enforcement sources and the manager of the Laguna Hills storage facility confirmed that they have found what looks like blood. Huber, then 23, vanished three years ago in Costa Mesa while heading home 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.

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,” several audiotapes whose contents were unknown and a brown paper sack containing 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 tarp, also stained with a crimson-colored substance, and items belonging to Huber, including clothing, jewelry and a purse.

* Newly appointed defense counsel Thomas K. Kelly was joined by 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, after her car blew a tire on the Corona del Mar Freeway.

The storage unit is in a one-story warehouse in a nondescript light industrial complex. Clow said investigators told her the unit was a potential crime scene in the Huber case.

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

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.

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