Valleywide : Former Songwriter Is Suspect in 2 Deaths

A former Motown songwriter is expected to be extradited from Michigan next week to face double murder charges for the slaying of a Woodland Hills man and a Chicago woman, Los Angeles police said Wednesday.

Police investigators are planning to fly to Huntington Woods, a small town north of Detroit, to pick up Jack Goga, 50, who waved extradition at a court hearing Tuesday, LAPD Detective Rick Swanston said.

Goga faces two counts of murder in Los Angeles County for the killings of Charles (Chick) Evans, who was found shot to death at his Del Valle Avenue home in Woodland Hills in December, and Digna Adames, a Chicago woman whose body was found outside Castaic in June, 1994.

Authorities have alleged Goga killed Evans, 60, after he was ordered to leave Evans’ home. Police said Goga was infatuated by Adames, 25, an aspiring singer who had accepted Goga’s offer to come with him to Los Angeles, where he promised to introduce her to people in the music industry.

Goga was arrested in Huntington Woods in December after his half-sister called police to report a prowler in her back yard. Following his arrest, Goga pleaded guilty in a Michigan court to being in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to the jail time he had already served and probation, Swanston said.

After he arrives in Los Angeles next week, Goga is expected to be arraigned in Van Nuys Municipal Court on charges he murdered Evans. He probably will be arraigned later in Newhall Municipal Court on charges stemming from the Adames killing, Swanston said.

According to family members, Goga’s life began to fall apart about two years ago after he divorced his wife of six years. He subsequently moved around a lot, often staying with friends. For a brief period, family members said, he even lived in his car.