Photographer Named Suspect in Slaying of Second Model : Crime: A witness reports seeing Charles E. Rathbun with Kimberly Pandelios about a month before her 1992 disappearance. Her body was found in the Angeles Forest.

The free-lance photographer charged with the murder of former Raiders cheerleader Linda Sobek was named as a suspect Wednesday in the 1992 slaying of another model as law enforcement authorities re-examined unsolved murders in several states, including Ohio, the suspect’s former home.

Ending several days of speculation that murder suspect Charles E. Rathbun might be linked to other crimes, Sheriff Sherman Block told reporters that the 38-year-old Hollywood man is a suspect in the unsolved murder of Kimberly Pandelios. The partial skeletal remains of the 20-year-old model were found March 3, 1993, in the Angeles National Forest--about four miles from the shallow grave where Sobek’s body was found Friday.

Like Sobek, authorities have said, Pandelios was an acquaintance of Rathbun. Pandelios disappeared in 1992 after saying she was going on a photo shoot. According to her mother, Pandelios said she was heading to an automotive shoot in the forest.

Block’s disclosure signaled an ever-broadening investigation of Rathbun, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering Sobek. He remains in custody on $1-million bail at the Men’s Central Jail Downtown, where authorities took him off a suicide watch Wednesday. He had made an unsuccessful suicide attempt last week with a jail-issued razor in the Hermosa Beach jail.

Rathbun’s attorney, Mark J. Werksman, declined to comment about his client being named a suspect in Pandelios’ murder, but sources close to the investigation suggested that other charges might be brought against the tall, blond photographer who led authorities to Sobek’s body.

Homicide investigators “are very excited about this guy,” one law enforcement source said after Block’s announcement. “They do not believe this is all he’s done.”

Asked specifically if Rathbun might be connected to other unsolved murders, Block said: “I can’t really suspect him of being a serial killer, but certainly there’s a possibility if any of these other cases show to be connected to him.”

But other law enforcement sources stopped well short of such a conclusion.

One person close to the investigation said, “I don’t think [investigators] know” yet.

That caution was echoed by one of the 20 homicide investigators quickly assembled for a task force investigating hundreds of clues since Sobek’s disappearance. “I would be real cautious” about tying Rathbun to other killings, the investigator said.

Block’s announcement was only one in a series of developments Wednesday in the investigation:

* Sheriff’s officials announced that Reserve Deputy Shannon Meyer, 37, was suspended Nov. 23, one day after Rathbun’s arrest, because she did not disclose that the suspect told her that he was involved in Sobek’s death. The deputy, who was a friend of Rathbun and--a source said--went on one date with him, told investigators that she did not report Rathbun’s comment because she thought he was joking. The suspect, she reportedly told investigators, had a reputation as “a practical joker.” The sheriff’s Internal Affairs section was investigating the incident.

* Despite news reports to the contrary, authorities here and in Columbus, Ohio, said late Wednesday that they were not looking at Rathbun as a possible suspect in the 1994 murder of Stephanie Hummer, 18. The body of the Ohio State University freshman, who died of a blow to the head, was recovered March 7, the day after she disappeared while walking to her dorm from a party near the campus.

“Right now, there is nothing to establish that this man [Rathbun] is connected with the Hummer case” or others in his jurisdiction, said Lt. Daniel Wood, homicide commander for the Columbus Police Department. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department also said it was not looking specifically at the Hummer case but would send investigators back to Ohio to learn more about Rathbun’s time there. Records show that he was acquitted of rape in Columbus in 1980.

* As part of the search for possible links between Rathbun and the murder of Pandelios, investigators spent much of Wednesday at the Los Angeles headquarters of Petersen Publishing Co., where Rathbun was employed from February, 1989, to June, 1992--four months before Pandelios disappeared. While investigators searched the company’s records, Petersen officials released a three-paragraph statement contradicting a news report that Rathbun had been fired from the company because he sexually harassed female co-workers. Rather, the company said, the photographer was let go “due to staff cutbacks in the department.”

* Although Rathbun’s conduct at Petersen was not questioned by company officials, Block said the department’s continuing investigation indicated that Rathbun had many run-ins with women, both professional and personal. “A number of women have now come forward and say that he has made overtures for sexual favors . . . sometimes on photo shoots, sometimes in other relationships.” The overtures, Block said, were unsolicited and unwelcome. “And he became pretty pushy, I guess, would be the word,” Block said. “It wasn’t just, he didn’t like to take no for an answer, let’s put it that way.”

* Sheriff’s homicide investigators returned to the dry lake bed where Rathbun said he took Sobek for a photo session the day she disappeared. It was there, Rathbun said, that he accidentally ran over the model while showing her how to spin a sports utility vehicle in tight circles.

But in searching the site, about 40 miles from where Sobek’s body was unearthed, there was no evidence of tire tracks to support Rathbun’s assertions, one investigator said. “It has been windy up there,” the investigator acknowledged. Still, the investigator said, the lack of evidence only added to doubts about Rathbun’s statements. “We’re trying to confirm any part of his story,” the investigator said. Asked if any significant part of it has been substantiated, the investigator said, “No.”

* Although the cause of Sobek’s death was still officially uncertain, authorities publicly confirmed for the first time a Wednesday report in The Times that bruises were found on the model’s body. “There appear to be significant bruises to the body that would indicate force,” Block told reporters.

The disclosure that Rathbun was a suspect in the Pandelios case was a vindication of sorts for her mother, who has maintained that Rathbun was responsible since his arrest in the Sobek case.

“I was hoping that something could be found that linked both cases,” Magaly Spector said from her home in New Providence, N.J. “I was convinced they were connected.”

*

Spector said sheriff’s investigators called and told her that they had been contacted by a witness who reported seeing Pandelios and Rathbun together in January, 1992, about a month before Pandelios disappeared after going on a modeling assignment.

Block told reporters that investigators had confirmed at least two meetings between Rathbun and Pandelios, one at a Denny’s restaurant, the other at an undisclosed site.

After Sobek’s Nov. 16 disappearance, authorities have said, they recovered her vehicle at a Denny’s in Torrance. Although investigators have not established that Pandelios’ modeling assignment--like Sobek’s--involved photographs of a sports utility vehicle, Pandelios’ mother has said that her daughter told her that she was going to the Angeles National Forest for a photo shoot of a vehicle.

A hiker stumbled upon Pandelios’ skull in the forest in March, 1993.

Spector said she believes that her daughter met a photographer who called himself “Paul” about the same time the witness claims to have seen Rathbun and Pandelios together. Spector also said that she believes Rathbun is “Paul” and that her daughter met him after responding to a modeling ad.

“She grew up in a small city and she was very trusting, and I was always afraid she wouldn’t recognize the danger around her,” Spector said. “I didn’t want to make her feel scared every time she went outside, but deep in my heart I was always afraid she would be kidnaped because she was so beautiful and so trusting.”

The cause of Pandelios’ death was never determined.

The exact cause of Sobek’s death has not yet been determined, pending toxicological and other tests.

Sources close to the case have said Sobek was asphyxiated, but coroner’s officials have said it will be up to two more weeks before the cause of death is confirmed. Similarly, authorities have said it could be several more days before the sheriff’s crime lab can determine if Sobek was sexually assaulted.

As authorities await those results, Block said, his investigators would go to several locations, including Ohio, where they will look into the death of a model in the Columbus area.

“We’re getting calls from people all over the country who have cases where they see similarities,” Block said. “One in particular that we’re looking at was a homicide in Ohio, [in] close proximity to where Rathbun’s father lives, and where Rathbun has visited. So we’re looking at a number of those situations and evaluating them.”

*

Late Wednesday, Franklin County Sheriff Steve Martin, whose jurisdiction includes Columbus, Ohio, and several adjacent areas, said that his department checked all open murder cases dating back to the 1970s and that none involved models.

On Wednesday, sheriff’s investigators searched the high-rise offices of Petersen Publishing for possible links between Rathbun and Pandelios. A source within the 75-publication company--which often uses photos of bikini-clad models astride motorcycles or the doors of customized sport trucks--said detectives examined Rathbun’s personnel file, spoke with former colleagues and checked photo records.

In its official statement, Petersen said Rathbun was terminated by the company June 5, 1992, because of staff cutbacks.

The statement conflicts with comments reported Monday by Bob D’Olivo, director of photography for Petersen. In news accounts D’Olivo was quoted as saying Rathbun was fired following allegations that Rathbun sexually harassed female co-workers. D’Olivo also said, “Charlie . . . had temper problems.”

But on Wednesday, the Petersen spokesman said D’Olivo’s statement was in error and “based on memories that are 3 1/2 years old. Rathbun was terminated because there were simply too many photographers.”

Times staff writers Paul Dean, Robert Lopez, Eric Slater and Julie Tamaki in Los Angeles and correspondent Greg Sowinski in Columbus contributed to this story.