1 Victim’s Son Held in Killings at CityWalk

A North Hollywood man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of murdering his mother and former girlfriend, whose throats were slashed atop a Universal CityWalk parking structure as they headed home from a Mother’s Day dinner, authorities reported.

Paul Carasi--who told police he lost consciousness in the attack and found the women in a pool of blood when he came to--was arrested at 7:10 p.m. after being interviewed by sheriff’s investigators, according to Sgt. Richard Dinsmoore of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Carasi, 30, was the only known witness to events leading to the killings of his mother, Doris Carasi, 61, and former girlfriend, Sonia Salinas, 29, mother of his 2-year-old son.

Carasi, who suffered cuts to his thumb and arm, has told investigators that he was attacked from behind and injured while trying to grab his assailant’s knife before he passed out.

Carasi was booked at Men’s Central Jail on suspicion of murder and was being held without bail, Dinsmoore said.

He would not reveal why deputies arrested Carasi.

“The investigation is still continuing as to the possible involvement” of Carasi’s current girlfriend, Donna K. Lee, Dinsmoore said.

Investigators served two search warrants Thursday--at the apartment Carasi shared with Lee and at the apartment his mother shared with Salinas, just two doors away in the same North Hollywood complex.

Lee, 44, was found about 15 minutes after the slayings, her stomach deeply slashed, alongside the Hollywood Freeway about four miles from CityWalk.

Lee told authorities that she was robbed and attacked there.

Sheriff’s investigators said they wanted to question Lee about a bloody butcher knife--which deputies said may be the weapon used in the slayings--and a fanny pack belonging to Doris Carasi, both of which California Highway Patrol officers found near Lee’s car.

Lee, who was stabbed twice in the stomach and suffered a superficial wound to her back, underwent surgery for her stomach injury. She was listed in fair but stable condition at a local hospital, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Investigators tried to interview Lee on Tuesday, but she refused to talk, the Sheriff’s Department said.

Relatives informed authorities that they wanted to retain a lawyer for her before she answered detectives’ questions, deputies said.

Sheriff Sherman Block told reporters earlier in the week that “the possibility exists” that Lee’s wounds “could have been self-inflicted.”

All those known to be involved in the incident lived in the same North Hollywood apartment house. Paul Carasi lived with Lee, his current girlfriend, just two doors from the apartment shared by his mother, his former girlfriend Salinas and their 2-year-old son, neighbors said.

Lee, Salinas and Paul Carasi worked together at a Bank of America data-processing center in Downtown Los Angeles, a bank spokesman said Tuesday.