Man Held in Family Killings Accused of Plotting 4th Slaying : Crime: Edward Charles III--imprisoned in deaths of parents, brother--allegedly planned to pay hit man to bludgeon grandfather.

An imprisoned Fullerton mechanic awaiting trial for murder in the deaths of three family members is now accused of enlisting a hit man to bludgeon his grandfather this weekend and then take the fall for all four killings, an Orange County Sheriff’s investigator revealed Saturday.

Edward Charles III, 22, allegedly planned to pay $150,000 and three horses to an assassin--who actually was an undercover deputy--to slay his 74-year-old grandfather Friday night.

“The whole thing was kind of unbelievable,” said Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Howieson, who said he posed as the ex-convict hit man that Charles tried to hire.

During jail visits last week, Howieson said Charles instructed him to strike the sleeping grandfather’s skull with a baseball bat, and then deliberately get arrested by police and confess to all four killings.

Howieson had persuaded Charles he was willing to take the blame for the murders--Charles’ parents, his younger brother and the grandfather--because the “hit man” had AIDS and didn’t have much longer to live, the investigator said.

Then, according to the alleged plot orchestrated during jailhouse talks and several telephone calls over eight days, Charles would be freed from prison and make payment to the killer-for-hire’s family, Howieson said.

Charles’ attorney, Deputy Public Defender Ronald Klar, said Saturday that he had not been informed of the undercover operation and declined to comment until he had read police reports and talked to Charles.

But Klar said: “That sounds much beyond his (Charles’) capabilities and his demeanor.”

Charles’ grandfather, Bernie Severino, reached at the family home in Fullerton, also declined to comment Saturday on his grandson’s alleged plan.

Charles is accused of killing his father, Edward Charles Jr., 55, an engineer at Hughes Aircraft; his mother, Dolores, 47, a self-employed typist; and his brother, Danny, 19. Charles pleaded not guilty to the triple murders in November.

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The three relatives were discovered dead in a family car that had been doused with gasoline and set ablaze Nov. 7 outside a La Mirada high school. Authorities believe the assailant used a hammer and knife, and they suspect that the victims were killed elsewhere, possibly the Charles’ home in Fullerton, and later placed in the car.

Charles already faces the death penalty if convicted. Howieson said the Orange County district attorney’s office will decide this week whether to charge the former gas station mechanic with soliciting a murder.

Howieson said authorities learned of Charles’ plan from a jail informant in December. The informant was supposed to help Charles find an assassin, but instead the inmate went to authorities, thus hatching the sting operation, he said.

Howieson, a 17-year Sheriff’s Department veteran, sent Charles a letter Dec. 22, saying that a mutual friend suggested the inmate needed “some work done.” Charles called Howieson back the next day and arranged a meeting.

But during their first conversation, Howieson feared his cover would be blown. Charles said he had heard from other inmates that an informant had squealed his alleged scheme to the district attorney’s office, Howieson said.

“I was talking to this guy and thinking, ‘Oh, my God. He already knows,’ ” Howieson said.

But Howieson, who told Charles during the 10-minute phone conversation he was a former prison inmate, reassured the inmate there was nothing to worry about. Charles then requested a face-to-face meeting, Howieson said.

The pair, separated by a glass partition in Orange County Jail, talked Thursday and Friday. The two communicated in half-sentences over a jail phone and by displaying handwritten messages up to the glass, Howieson said.

During the jumbled discussions, Charles wavered several times about whether to actually engineer his grandfather’s death, Howieson said. At one point Charles wrote, “I can’t ask anyone to kill my grandfather,” but at another said, “He’s 75. He’s lived life,” Howieson said.

In another scenario discussed, Howieson was to burglarize the home and merely wake up the grandfather but still confess to the three previous murders. When arrested, Howieson was to tell police he was a professional hit man who couldn’t get full payment until he completed his original contract and killed the grandfather, Howieson said.

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When the inmate hedged about the alleged plots, Howieson said he replied each time the decision was entirely up to Charles.

Finally, in a Friday meeting, Charles intimated he preferred the murder plan, according to the investigator.

“To be absolutely clear,” Howieson said, “I held up a note on the glass that read ‘Grandfather dies,’ and he was nodding yes, yes. Then I finished writing with ‘a blow to the head.’ And he said it didn’t matter how.”

Howieson said the two settled on a payment of $150,000 to be handed over to Howieson’s family. Also, as collateral, the hit man was to steal three horses, valued at $10,000, that the Charles family kept at a nearby stable Friday night, Howieson said. Later, Charles would buy back the animals, Howieson said.

Charles drew a diagram of the family home showing where the grandfather would be sleeping, Howieson said.

The investigator said he asked Charles if he should kill the grandfather with a gun, a knife or a bat. But Charles advised against the gun since it would “be too loud,” and chose the bat, Howieson said.

Finally, Howieson asked Charles if he wanted to call his grandfather and say goodby, but Charles answered no. Then, Howieson inquired when he should commit the crime.

Charles replied: “Do him in his sleep,” according to Howieson.

Almost immediately, Howieson’s partner, Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Davis, rushed into the jail visiting room and snatched up Charles’ handwritten messages, Howieson said.