HAWAIIAN GARDENS : Not Guilty Plea Entered in Attempted Murder

A convicted murderer accused of attacking a Hawaiian Gardens woman last August and leaving her for dead has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder.

James Lum Shamburger, 47, was ordered by Los Cerritos Municipal Commissioner Leo Villa to return to court Sept. 7 for a preliminary hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to hold him for trial. He remains in custody in lieu of $500,000 bail.

The victim, who is in her 20s, spent four days in a garage until she was found barely alive. She was in a coma for months before she recovered and assisted authorities in arresting the suspect, Deputy Dist. Atty. Clifton Garrott said. Shamburger allegedly picked the woman up in the Hawaiian Gardens area last Aug. 27 and took her to a vacant garage. During a struggle, he allegedly hit her on the head with a hatchet or similar sharp-edged instrument.

Four days later, a man who was looking for his girlfriend’s dog peered into the partially open garage and smelled what he believed to be the odor of a decomposing body. Sheriff’s deputies at first believed the woman was dead, but when homicide detectives arrived, they discovered she was still breathing. The woman, whose name was withheld, was hospitalized until February.

Shamburger spent 11 years in state prison for the Aug. 3, 1977, murder in Los Angeles of his wife, who was beaten on the head with a baseball bat.