Photographer Pleads Not Guilty in Model’s Death

A bedraggled 38-year-old free-lance photographer pleaded not guilty Monday to the murder of a Hermosa Beach model as authorities attempted to determine whether the death of the former Raiders cheerleader was an isolated tragedy or linked to the unsolved murder of another model.

In a brief courtroom appearance, Charles Edgar Rathbun of Hollywood was arraigned on one count of first-degree murder and held on $1-million bail. Unshaven after an unsuccessful suicide attempt last week with a jail-issued razor, Rathbun made his first public appearance since Friday, when he led authorities on a grim search for the body of 27-year-old Linda Sobek. She disappeared Nov. 16 after telling friends she was going on a modeling assignment.

The clothed body of the calendar model was discovered Saturday in a rugged, remote corner of Angeles National Forest, buried in a grave so shallow an arm was jutting out through a mound of rocks and earth. On Monday, Sobek’s family laid flowers on the site.

Although the cause of death was not disclosed, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said a preliminary autopsy did not support Rathbun’s claim that he accidentally ran over Sobek during a photography shoot.

A source close to the investigation said Monday that the cause of death was asphyxiation. And attorney Wayne Willette, representing the Sobek family, said Monday that officials had given the same explanation.

But Sheriff’s Department officials would not comment on the cause of death and Craig Harvey, chief of investigations for the coroner’s office, said authorities will not establish a precise cause of death until next week. He characterized as “premature” accounts that Sobek was asphyxiated.

“It’s certainly something we’re considering but to say at this stage in the game that this was the cause of death, end of story . . . we cannot do that because there are too many tests that are outstanding,” Harvey said.

Thus far, he said, the coroner’s office has yet to rule out a drug overdose, poisoning or a blow to the head as a cause of death. Pathologists have definitely concluded, however, that Sobek was not shot or stabbed.

In addition to toxicology tests, Harvey said the coroner’s office has enlisted the assistance of a research criminalist and a second expert to examine any trauma to the model’s brain. Authorities are also trying to determine if Sobek had been sexually assaulted, although most evidence of rape disappears within 24 hours and Sobek had been buried for about a week.

Harvey said the coroner’s office decided to look for evidence of sexual assault anyway because of the type of case and because the model’s body was “in remarkably good condition when we took possession of it,” probably because of the cold nights.

In filing a single murder charge without special circumstances, the district attorney’s office is not seeking the death penalty at this time, according to spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons.

The Sheriff’s Department had previously disclosed that it was investigating possible links between Sobek’s death and that of another blonde model, Kimberly Pandelios, 20, of Northridge, whose body also was recovered in the Angeles National Forest. Pandelios disappeared in 1992 after telling acquaintances that she was going on a photo shoot.

On Monday, authorities also said they were pursuing other leads, including calls from police agencies in several states to see if Rathbun might be linked to their cases.

“We are not operating under any assumption of a mass murderer or serial killer,” said homicide investigator Mary Bice.

“There is no indication of that at this time at all,” added Sgt. Robert Stoneman. “Two [murders] in three years doesn’t sound like a serial killer to me, does it to you?”

Bice, one of four homicide investigators assigned to the case, added that the department had received some 400 clues and tips in the last week. “We have [received] . . . information and facts from all over the place,” she said. “We are just now trying to get our feet under us.”

Bice dismissed one news report Monday that investigators had recovered photos from Rathbun’s house that seemed to depict death scenes involving women. That, she said, “is news to me.”

While investigators continued their work, more details were beginning to emerge about Rathbun--some of them disturbing.

Public records show that in June, 1979, Rathbun was charged with rape in Columbus, Ohio, but was acquitted eight months later in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. That case was among the facts that sheriff’s investigators said they would examine.

According to a police report on the incident, a 21-year-old woman claimed that she was raped by Rathbun when she offered him a ride home after his car had broken down. The woman told police the attack occurred at Rathbun’s house after he invited her in to look at some of his photos.

“He forced her to the floor, removed all her clothing, told her he didn’t want to hurt her but would kill her if she made any noise and said if she would let him do what he wanted to do he would let her go,” the police report says.

Rathbun was acquitted of the alleged attack against the married woman after his lawyer argued that it was a consensual act, according to interviews and court records obtained by The Times.

Outside the Torrance courtroom where Rathbun was arraigned, prosecutor Stephen Kay told reporters that local authorities were “just starting to find out” about the Ohio case. “Let’s just say it is a continuing investigation,” Kay said.

Rathbun’s attorney, Mark J. Werksman, said Monday the alleged Ohio rape was “ancient history” that resulted in acquittal and will have no bearing on the Sobek case. Werksman also declined to talk about Rathbun’s initial version of what happened during the photo shoot with Sobek. Rathbun told authorities that he was so frantic after the accident that he dug a crude grave for her in a panic.

“I am not saying anything about how this thing happened except to say that it was a tragedy,” Werksman said before his client was transported back to the Men’s Central Jail in Downtown Los Angeles.

Rathbun’s next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 5 before Torrance Superior Court Judge Benjamin Aranda, when a date will be set for his preliminary hearing.

Willette, the Sobek family attorney, said that Sobek and Rathbun had worked together before, apparently without problems. The two had a “professional rapport,” he said.

Those who know Rathbun described the tall, blond automobile photographer Monday as a personable man with a good sense of humor. But “he didn’t have a lot of friends outside of the business he was in,” said one photographer, who asked not to be named.

The woman he is accused of murdering, on the other hand, had many friends.

In interview after interview, these friends remembered Sobek as a sweet young woman whose life was very different from the photo images of an archetypal Southern California blond in snug cheerleading outfits and bathing suits.

Raised as a Catholic, Sobek became a born-again Christian this year on her 27th birthday during a ceremonial re-baptism.

“She was very spiritual,” said Denise, a former Raiderette who declined to give her last name out of fear for her safety. “Whenever she left, she’d always say, ‘Goodby and God bless.’ ”

Kelly Flynn, another longtime friend of Sobek, agreed that the young woman with the bright smile had found not only religion recently but a new sense of purpose in her life. “She was a very spiritual person. All these photographs you see, with the Raiderettes and the boobs and all that stuff, that was a long time ago,” Flynn said.

On the front porch of Sobek’s Hermosa Beach home, a circle of candles remained lit Monday, a reminder of the twilight vigil held the night before.

Inside, two tables had been converted into makeshift shrines to Sobek, both adorned with photos, flowers, candles and newspaper clippings chronicling the model’s disappearance and the subsequent discovery of her body.

Jeff Flynn, Kelly’s brother and a roommate and longtime friend of Sobek, said the memorials served to keep her memory alive and to give closure to a wrenching week of uncertainty about her whereabouts.

“It eases the pain any time you can get so many answers so quickly,” Flynn said. “Today’s the day the healing process starts.”

Flynn said he met Sobek eight years ago through mutual friends and formed a close bond with her over the years as members of the same gym in Redondo Beach. In May, Sobek moved into an extra bedroom in the house that Flynn shares with his sister and a third roommate.

While discussing their friendship Monday, Flynn zeroed in on one of what he considered Sobek’s most endearing qualities: her habit of “saying thank you for the smallest things.”

And Sobek would not just stop at verbal gratitude, Flynn said. Handwritten thank-you cards would pop up any time Flynn took a few minutes to update Sobek’s resume or perform other minor tasks for her on his computer.

“Once you knew her, you saw there was far more beauty on the inside than the outside,” he said.

Other longtime friends agreed.

“She was the type of friend who did those little things to make you feel special,” said Denise, the former Raiderette.

Even after her disappearance, Sobek’s sunny disposition seemed a beacon that helped others keep the faith--at least for a while.

“I always hoped and dreamed that there would be a happy ending,” said Kelly Flynn. “It was hard for me to accept that she was under that sheet.”

Times staff writers Paul Dean, Ralph Frammolino, Jeff Leeds and Robert Lopez and correspondents Stephen Gregory, Randall Oliver and Greg Sowinksi contributed to this report.

* HIGH-PROFILE CASES: Stephen Kay, who will prosecute the man charged with murdering model Linda Sobek, is no stranger to big cases. B1