Famalaro Kept Tapes of Missing Person Shows : Crime: TV subjects included Denise Huber, say newly released police reports detailing murder investigation.

Law enforcement reports released Wednesday reveal that John J. Famalaro kept videotapes of television shows spotlighting missing persons--including Denise Huber, the Newport Beach woman he is accused of murdering before carting her nude, handcuffed body about in a freezer for nearly three years.

The reports--totaling nearly 350 pages--recapped much of the investigation spawned by the chance discovery of Huber’s body and Famalaro’s subsequent arrest in Arizona last month on murder charges.

As Arizona police checked out the possibility that the former Orange County resident might be responsible for other murders, they determined that other women whose personal effects were found in his Prescott Country Club home were in fact safe and sound.

In addition to finding Huber’s bloodstained clothing and the contents of her purse, police searching Famalaro’s Arizona home also found identity cards, driver’s licenses or other belongings of a dozen other women, triggering fears that Huber might not be the only murder victim.

But as they assured themselves that the other women had not come to any harm, police did learn of several alleged instances in which Famalaro, who grew up in Santa Ana and lived for a time in Lake Forest and Laguna Hills, stalked, terrorized or harassed women with whom he had come in contact.

Nancy L. Gowan of Lake Forest, who dated Famalaro for three years and was engaged to marry him around the time of Huber’s disappearance, told Arizona authorities she became frightened and screamed and cried when the 37-year-old house painter once began pushing her around, got a “glazed” look in his eyes and tried to handcuff her as she attempted to leave.

An Arizona police officer who attended the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Reserve Academy with Famalaro told authorities that Famalaro once boasted about “stalking” a girlfriend because he suspected she was cheating on him.

Famalaro was quoted by his fellow academy cadet as saying that he hid in bushes and used different cars to watch her house, and that he threatened her and her friends.

A woman contacted by Arizona police recalled taking a real estate course with Famalaro and said he was relentless in his attempts to “hit on” one of her friends. Ironically, Famalaro would often warn the two women about the need to protect themselves from strangers.

The two went out of their way to avoid him, and believed he concocted tales about himself to seem more sympathetic in the hopes the women would date him, she said.

But not all of the women who came in contact with Famalaro were left with negative impressions. Rosey Cavez Walker of Dana Point, who was listed among the dozens of persons providing investigative leads to police, said she was so pleased with the painting job that Famalaro had done at her house the weekend after Huber’s disappearance that she recommended the “cordial” house painter to others in the neighborhood.

Walker even handed out Famalaro’s business cards to her friends, and estimated that he may have painted 12 houses in her neighborhood alone.

She said she was shocked last month when Famalaro’s picture appeared with news reports about the discovery of Huber’s body in a freezer that Famalaro kept running inside a rental truck parked in his driveway.

“When I saw his face on television, I said, ‘My God, that’s John Famalaro.’ The same guy who was all over my house. I immediately dug out my painting contract. . . . He had been at my house painting the weekend after (Huber) disappeared,” Walker said.

Walker said she remembered that at that time Famalaro appeared to be ill.

“He looked so bad that day, like death warmed over. He told me the doctor had diagnosed him with something near pneumonia.”

It is ironic, Walker said, that only recently have she and other neighbors begun to notice paint peeling from their houses.

Among the dozens of videotapes seized by investigators seeking evidence linking Famalaro to Huber’s death, Yavapai County sheriff’s deputies found a videotaped television news account about Huber’s disappearance.

Famalaro also appeared to have a fascination with Suzanne Somers. Many of the videotapes contained specials featuring the blond actress.

There were also several videotaped shows about notorious killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Charles Manson, along with episodes of “America’s Most Wanted” and televised games of the Los Angeles Lakers.

In other developments Wednesday, Gov. Pete Wilson signed extradition papers that should promptly result in Famalaro’s return to Orange County, where he faces capital murder charges. Famalaro has pleaded not guilty.

The extradition documents were being sent to Arizona Gov. Fife Symington via Federal Express, but the entire process is expected to take several days and might not hasten a formal Aug. 29 extradition hearing in an Arizona superior court.

The videotapes, along with boxes of documents, were seized last month during an exhaustive search of Famalaro’s cluttered home. The place was so cluttered with unpacked moving boxes that even his own mother--who lives next door--disliked visiting the unkempt home, according to the police reports.

Bloodied tools, including a hammer and crowbar, were also seized from the home and are still considered possible murder weapons.

The reports released Wednesday also revealed that Huber’s belongings, along with other women’s clothing and items that appeared to be bloodied, were found in Famalaro’s home in a box marked “Christmas.”

Although police have uncovered no evidence that Famalaro has caused any other women harm, a Santa Monica private investigator contacted Arizona police to draw their attention to the fact that four other women disappeared in Southern California in the early 1990s in circumstances strikingly similar to those surrounding Huber’s disappearance.

All but one were abducted from their cars, clues were scarce and all disappeared on either the 3rd or the 27th of the month, he said.

“From my view, that means (those dates) are significant to somebody,” said investigator Jay Jones. “I just think there is too much of a coincidence here.”

For example, the case of Nancy Huter, who disappeared March 3, 1992, seems chillingly similar to Huber’s.

Huter, 36, of Thousand Oaks, disappeared from the Ventura County area nine months to the day after Huber vanished from the Corona del Mar Freeway. At the time of their disappearance, both women were driving Honda cars, and there were no signs of a struggle at the locations where the cars were recovered.

A source close to the Famalaro investigation in Orange County said officials have not ruled out the possibility of additional victims, but stressed that there is no immediate information to point in that direction.

According to the police reports, even men who knew Famalaro considered him strange, secretive--and shady. Several told police Famalaro hired them to do backbreaking work transporting paint and other materials from California to Arizona, without rest, and then never paid them.

Another worker told police Famalaro was very reluctant to allow people into his home, and said Famalaro would hover about whenever he used the phone or the bathroom.

Another man told authorities he was interested in starting a business with Famalaro but was left only with bills totaling more than $10,000--representing charges that Famalaro incurred and never paid. Gowan, Famalaro’s ex-fiancee, told police he ran up several thousand in bills that he left behind, according to the reports.

Arizona authorities arrested Famalaro last month after they went to his home to check out a report that he had a rental truck that had not been returned and was reported stolen. Police were expecting to find illegal drugs when they broke into the locked truck, and cut away a padlock on the freezer that held Huber’s body.

The murder case was transferred from Arizona to Orange County after Huber’s blood was discovered in a Laguna Hills storage facility where Famalaro briefly set up housekeeping before moving to Arizona. Huber died from nearly a dozen blows to the head, and tests are pending to determine whether she was sexually assaulted.

Authorities believe Famalaro abducted Huber after her car broke down on the Corona del Mar (73) Freeway while she was returning home from a rock concert, and killed her in the storage facility.

He purchased the freezer in which Huber’s body was later found just a few days after her disappearance, but authorities still have not ruled out the possibility he kept her body in a standard kitchen freezer in the meantime.

Staff writer Matt Lait and Arizona correspondent Beverly Medlyn contributed to this report.