Rathbun Faces New Charge in Death of Model

Murder suspect Charles E. Rathbun faces a new accusation in the murder of model Linda Sobek that could bring him the death penalty, prosecutors said Thursday.

At the same time, however, authorities said they did not anticipate filing any additional charges against the 38-year-old freelance photographer from Hollywood. Previously, Rathbun had been named as a suspect in the disappearance of another model and was under investigation in connection with one other alleged sexual assault.

At a court appearance in Torrance today, Rathbun will be charged with sodomy in the assault on Sobek, a former Raiders cheerleader whose body was recovered Nov. 24 in a remote area of the Angeles National Forest. A preliminary autopsy concluded weeks ago that the 27-year-old Hermosa Beach woman died of asphyxiation, not from being accidentally run over by a vehicle as Rathbun has asserted.

The new accusation elevates the murder charge against Rathbun to a special circumstances case punishable by execution, although no decision has been made on whether to seek the death penalty, prosecutor Steve Kay said Thursday. That decision will not be made until after Rathbun’s preliminary hearing is concluded in the coming weeks or months, Kay said.

While facing a new charge in Sobek’s slaying, Kay said, Rathbun will not face additional allegations in other local cases. “I think this is all we can expect him to be charged with,” the prosecutor said.

Previously, authorities here and in other states said they were investigating Rathbun in connection with unsolved cases, including the 1992 disappearance of another local blond model, Kimberly Pandelios. The skeletal remains of the 20-year-old Northridge woman were also found in the Angeles National Forest. And like Sobek, Pandelios disappeared after telling acquaintances she was going on a photo shoot.

Shortly after Rathbun’s arrest, Sheriff Sherman Block convened a 20-member task force to investigate a flood of tips and inquiries about Rathbun’s possible connection to cases here and in other states, including Michigan and Ohio.

In late November, Block named Rathbun as a suspect in the Pandelios case and said his investigators were working with authorities investigating unsolved disappearances and slayings elsewhere.

But on Thursday, prosecutor Kay said he lacked the evidence to charge Rathbun in that disappearance.

“Murders are hard to prove and that happened a long time ago,” Kay said.

Likewise, Kay said that other allegations of sexual assaults by Rathbun--including one leveled by a former roommate of the defendant--would not result in charges because the three-year statute of limitations had expired on those reported incidents.

“The statute of limitations foreclosed us filing, so there was no sense even thinking about it,” Kay said.

Pandelios’ mother, Magaly Spector of New Providence, N.J., expressed disappointment late Thursday that no charges would be filed against Rathbun in connection with her daughter’s death. “There were too many coincidences for him not to be the one,” Spector said.

Not only did her daughter say she was meeting a photographer for a shoot with a vehicle, Spector said, but also indicated during a telephone call two days before she disappeared that the man often used computers to manipulate his photographs.

Colleagues of Rathbun have said he frequently employed computers in his work and was well-versed in the ways of the modern electronic darkroom.

While saying his client would plead not guilty to the sexual assault of Sobek, Rathbun’s attorney Mark Werksman declined further comment about the additional charge.

Werksman did, however, criticize law enforcement and specifically the Sheriff’s Department for suggesting that Rathbun might be linked to other unsolved murders.

“After the drumbeat of horrors raised by the sheriff, they have fallen silent,” Werksman said. “And I wonder if it is not already too late to erase the public image of Rathbun as a serial killer that they so irresponsibly promoted.”

But late Thursday, Block defended his department’s investigation and denied Werksman’s charge that he ever portrayed Rathbun as a serial killer.

“What I said then and what I am saying now is that [Rathbun] is being looked at as a possible suspect in a number of other cases, here and elsewhere. . . . We never called him a serial killer. We said there was a possibility he was involved in some other cases,” Block said.

While no other local charges are now contemplated against Rathbun, Block said, his department will maintain a scaled-down version of the task force to work with other agencies and continue investigating clues in other cases--including the Pandelios disappearance.

The Pandelios case “is still an open investigation,” Block said.