CityWalk Suspects Plead Innocent

A North Hollywood man and the woman he was dating pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of murdering the man’s mother and a former lover at Universal CityWalk on Mother’s Day.

Paul Carasi, 30, and Donna Kay Lee, 44, entered their pleas in Santa Monica Superior Court.

The two were ordered to stand trial last month after a preliminary hearing at which Deputy Dist. Atty. John Gilligan presented a witness who testified Carasi said he wished his former mate were dead.

The witness, a co-worker, said Carasi had vowed to punish his former lover for seeking sole custody of the couple’s son.

Sonya Salinas and Doris Carasi were found with their throats slit atop a CityWalk parking structure following a Mother’s Day dinner. Paul Carasi was also at the dinner, claiming to police that he feigned unconsciousness after struggling with an attacker.

Lee was found wounded on the side of the nearby freeway after she called the highway patrol for help, claiming she had been wounded by a robber.

A blood-stained kitchen knife, bloody gloves and two blood- stained fanny packs were discovered nearby. Prosecutors contend Lee was wounded in a struggle with Salinas and had stopped by the side of the road to get rid of bloody evidence of the slayings.