Man Attacked for His Skull, Police Say

Two Buena Park women are facing charges of attempting to kill a visiting German salesman so one of them could take his skull for an occult ritual, police and attorneys said Monday.

Los Angeles police detectives arrested Alicia Howard, 25, and Alice Jobe, 21, at Howard’s home on suspicion of stabbing Herbert Seidenkrantz, a 36-year-old Christmas-ornament salesman, in his Airport Marina Hotel room April 2, said Police Sgt. Stephany Payne.

Howard and Jobe are being held on suspicion of attempted murder in lieu of $500,000 bail each at the Sybil Brand Institute for Women in Los Angeles.

They have pleaded not guilty and had filed reports with Los Angeles police “that Seidenkrantz had raped them and that they had acted in self-defense.” Charges have not been filed against Seidenkrantz.

But investigators said that Jobe told an officer following her arrest that Howard had wanted a human skull.

“That is ridiculous,” said David Slomovic, Jobe’s defense attorney. “What were they going to do? Take his chopped-off head in a pillow case and walk through the lobby?”

Seidenkrantz, who is married, returned to Germany following surgery to his injured spleen, liver and lung, police said.

Seidenkrantz told detectives that he had had drinks with the women, after one of them struck up a conversation with him at a Los Angeles hotel bar in the 8600 block of Lincoln Boulevard.

He reportedly invited the women to his room but said he didn’t think that they would take him up on his invitation. To his surprise, the women knocked on the door of his room a short time later, Payne said.

During the night, one of the women blindfolded Seidenkrantz with a bandanna, police said. Moments later, Howard allegedly pulled out a knife and plunged it into Seidenkrantz, Payne said.

He suffered multiple stab wounds but was able to get help at the hotel.

The women apologized before leaving the room, investigators and attorneys said.

“If she was trying to kill this guy, why would she immediately apologize?” Slomovic said. “Something went wrong in that room . . . something happened that wasn’t supposed to happen.”

Slomovic said his client did not intend to kill or rob Seidenkrantz, and that she was afraid for her own safety.

“She’s a young mother--an emotionally damaged young mother,” Slomovic said. “She has a very difficult background.”

Investigators serving a search warrant at Howard’s home, where she lives with her husband and two children, found books on Satanism and witchcraft. Knives, swords, candles and a mausoleum plaque were also reportedly seized in the search.

Jobe, who has a daughter, was living at Howard’s home.