San Fernando Valley : Death Penalty Sought in CityWalk Slayings
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Paul Carasi and Donna Lee, the North Hollywood couple charged with killing Carasi’s mother and a former girlfriend at Universal CityWalk on Mother’s Day.
Carasi, 30, and Lee, 44, are charged with murder and the special circumstance of multiple killings and lying in wait, making them eligible for the death penalty, said Deputy Dist. Atty. John Gilligan.
Prosecutors allege that on May 14, the two ambushed and stabbed to death Carasi’s mother, Doris Carasi, 61, and his ex-girlfriend Sonia Salinas, 29, in a parking structure at CityWalk.
Carasi was found at the scene smeared with blood, and said he had been knocked unconscious while the two women were attacked. Minutes later, a California Highway Patrol officer responding to a call for help on the nearby Hollywood Freeway found Lee on the shoulder of the road with knife wounds to her stomach.
Lee said she had been robbed, but the officer testified in a preliminary hearing that he found a bloodstained washcloth, bloody gloves and other evidence in the brush near Lee’s car. Prosecutors allege that Lee was injured while struggling with Salinas, and was dumping evidence when she locked herself out of her car.
No trial date has been set.
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