Probe of 2 Murders Going Slowly

Los Angeles police said Thursday that progress was slow in the search for the killers of a Chatsworth couple who were shot to death in their home.

No suspects have been arrested in connection with the Tuesday night shootings of Richard and Donna Landau, who died of gunshot wounds to their upper torsos, according to autopsy results released Thursday.

The Landaus were gunned down in their home on Owensmouth Avenue and their youngest son, Jonathan, a 15-year-old student at Chatsworth High School, was shot in the thigh.

Los Angeles Police Lt. Bob Normandy said his detectives are awaiting toxicology and other lab results from samples taken from the crime scene and that the information will be used to guide the developing murder investigation.

“This is not going to be a quick solve,” Normandy warned. “This one will take awhile.”

Based on statements by witnesses, robbery appears to be the motive for the crime, although police still have not determined whether anything is missing from the house, Normandy said.

After the shootings, the Landau’s eldest son, Jason, an 18-year-old football player at Chatsworth High, arrived home after being out with a friend to find his parents dead and his brother wounded, police said. Jason drove his brother to a friend’s house, where they called police and arranged to meet officers back at their home, friends of the brothers said.

Both Landau brothers were questioned by detectives Wednesday about the slayings, but were released later that evening and spent the night with friends.

Normandy said that both young men are being treated as witnesses, but that neither has been ruled out as a possible suspect, which is typical in a murder investigation. “Everybody is a suspect” until an arrest is made, he said.

The Landau brothers’ grandparents were traveling from out of state Thursday and were expected to take custody of them once they arrived in Los Angeles, Normandy said.

News of the killings sent a wave of shock and grief through the brothers’ group of close-knit friends, more than 50 of whom attended a candlelight vigil Wednesday evening.

Many of the teenagers spoke fondly of the slain couple, how they always welcomed their sons’ friends into their home and invited them to spend the night. A number of the youths described Donna Landau, who was on disability leave from her job with an airline, as a “second mom.”

Richard Landau was a landscape specialist for film companies who until recently worked for the “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” TV series, friends said.