Ex-Motown Songwriter Accused in 2 Slayings Dies in Jail

Jack Goga, a former Motown songwriter accused of killing a Woodland Hills man and an aspiring woman singer, died in custody this week while awaiting his murder trial, officials said Wednesday.

Goga, 52, was found dead in his cell at County-USC Medical Center’s jail ward Tuesday afternoon, said Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman Scott Carrier.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said Goga apparently suffered a heart attack after receiving medical care for more than two weeks, but an autopsy to be performed later this week will confirm the cause of death.

“It’s kind of like a semiclosure,” said LAPD Detective Malena Heisel, who investigated Goga in the winter of 1994. The double-murder charges against Goga made him eligible for the death penalty, but prosecutors had not decided whether to seek it.

Goga was accused of shooting Charles “Chick” Evans, 60, to death after Evans tried to expel Goga, a house guest, from his home on Del Valle Avenue. Months earlier, prosecutors contend, Goga killed Digna Adames, a 25-year-old aspiring singer from Chicago who hitched a ride to Los Angeles with Goga.

Adames hoped Goga would introduce her to people in the music industry he knew from his years of penning tunes for Motown Records, but the songwriter became infatuated with Adames and killed her, police said.

After killing Adames, police said, Goga moved in with Evans. Six months later, he fled in Evans’ vintage Volvo. Goga was caught in his Michigan hometown, where he was trying to see his sister.

Friends and family said Goga--who wrote for the Four Tops and Marvin Gaye--had become emotionally unstable after a 1992 divorce.

“He was a very fascinating man,” said Deputy Public Defender Dennis Cohen, who as Goga’s attorney was readying a predominantly psychological defense. “Very well-educated, very well-read and very funny. You could sit for hours with him.”

Goga’s preliminary hearing on March 11 was canceled when he was rushed to the jail ward with a cranial injury of unknown origin, attorneys said. The rescheduled hearing was also canceled.