Tip Leads to Arrest of Woman in Videotaped Slaying at Park

Los Angeles police arrested a 38-year-old woman on murder charges Saturday, crediting her capture to an amateur’s videotape that shows a man being choked to death in a Miracle Mile park, which elicited dozens of telephone tips.

Sheryl Mitchell was detained by Metropolitan Transportation Authority officers while she was riding a bus at Long Beach and East Artesia boulevards Friday night after an informant recognized her from TV newscasts and called police, said Lt. Greg Meyer, head of the Wilshire Detective Division.

“A witness who had seen the videotape, thanks to publicity by the media, observed Miss Mitchell on the bus and notified Metropolitan Transportation Authority police,” Meyer said.

He said police arrested Mitchell at 1 a.m. Saturday. The Los Angeles woman also was booked for outstanding misdemeanor warrants for misuse of a bus pass and attacking an MTA officer in a previous, unrelated incident, Meyer added.

Described as 5-foot-4 and 280 pounds, Mitchell allegedly killed David Jacob Adire, 51, of North Hollywood last Sunday afternoon when she pinned him to the ground in Pan Pacific Park with her left forearm across his throat. The county coroner’s office classified the death as a homicide, saying Adire died of a heart attack brought on by the trauma to his neck.

A motorist driving along the 6100 block of 3rd Street videotaped the incident, which shows about 10 bystanders shouting at the woman but taking no action as Adire struggled for 30 seconds before falling unconscious. The tape--released to television stations Thursday--also showed the woman turning Adire over and taking a pack of cigarettes from his pocket while complaining that he had stolen them from her. She left on an eastbound bus on 3rd Street, witnesses said.

Meyer said he did not blame onlookers for inaction.

“People don’t always know what they’re seeing,” he said. “They’re not used to seeing extreme violence. Extreme violence is not always a car crash and bullets flying through the air.”