Famalaro Had Worked on Homes of O.C. Law Enforcement Officials : Investigation: Suspect may have been painting a prosecutor’s house around the time of Denise Huber’s disappearance.

As Costa Mesa police continue their investigation into the murder of Denise Huber, they have interviewed some unusual potential witnesses: members of the Orange County law enforcement community who had hired murder suspect John J. Famalaro to paint their homes.

Ironically, Famalaro may have been painting the home of an Orange County prosecutor around the time that his alleged victim disappeared, and was also hired as a house painter by two Newport Beach police officers, sources close to the case said Friday.

Famalaro was charged this week with the murder of Huber, a Newport Beach woman who had been missing from June 3, 1991, until last weekend, when Arizona authorities identified her frozen remains from fingerprints. Her body was discovered in a freezer that Famalaro purchased and moved around South County before taking it to Arizona. Huber was 23 when she disappeared.

There is no evidence to suggest that Famalaro, who tried to become a police officer in the mid-1980s, specifically sought out the homes of law enforcement officials to paint. They may have simply lived in the area where he advertised his services.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary S. Paer said he remembers dealing with a man he thought was a clean-shaven Famalaro, as opposed to the bearded suspect arrested in Arizona last week, Orange County Assistant Dist. Atty. John Conley said Friday.

This could lend credence to the theory that Huber, stranded with a flat tire on her car in the darkness on the Corona del Mar Freeway, might have been lured to her death by Famalaro masquerading as a police officer or sheriff’s deputy. Law enforcement sources this week have alternately discounted and been intrigued by this theory.

Costa Mesa Police Lt. Ron Smith said this week that he thought Huber was “too smart” to fall for such a thing, especially since “it’s very unusual to have a uniformed officer with long hair and a beard.”

Smith added that everyone police have interviewed said Famalaro has sported a beard and mustache for years.

Other law enforcement sources and Huber’s family have found the bogus-police theory credible.

“She would trust someone in a uniform,” her mother, Ione Huber, said this week.

Famalaro’s interest in law enforcement has taken on added significance since authorities in Arizona found two look-alike Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy shirts in his Arizona home as they were searching for evidence in the death of Huber.

Conley confirmed Friday that Paer had hired Famalaro to paint his house in June of either 1990 or 1991. Conley said Paer isn’t sure which year.

“We are looking into this to see if it’s significant,” Conley said.

Paer, who has been interviewed by Costa Mesa police about when his house was painted, has been asked to review a lineup of photographs provided by police, Conley said.

Contacted at his home on Friday, Paer declined comment. Sources said he may be called as a potential witness and has been told not to talk.

Famalaro was also hired to paint the homes of Lt. Mike Jackson and Officer Ron Bellercamp of Newport Beach police, said Sgt. Al Fisher.

Bellercamp confirmed that Famalaro had painted his house, but he declined to talk about it Friday.

“I just don’t want to get involved in any of it,” Bellercamp said. “I’ve already spoken to the Costa Mesa Police Department about it. There is no big scoop here.”

Fisher, who department spokesman Sgt. Andy Gonis said is on vacation, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Although Gonis would not confirm that the two officers were among those whose homes were painted by Famalaro, he released the following statement: “Neither officer will be available for comment at the request of the Costa Mesa Police Department, so it will not possibly jeopardize their ongoing investigation.”

Famalaro made attempts to become a police officer, sheriff’s deputy or reserve officer in 1983 and 1984, but was either rejected or dropped out early in the application process. For a brief time, he was enrolled in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training academy for reserve officers.

Famalaro had once applied for a police officer job with the Irvine Police Department and twice with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, once as a reserve deputy and once as a regular deputy, officials said.

Times Staff Writers Matt Lait and Jodi Wilgoren contributed to this story.