Women Accused of Trying to Kill Salesman for His Skull

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

Los Angeles detectives arrested Alicia Howard, 25, and Alice Jobe, 21, at their Buena Park home on charges of stabbing a 36-year-old Christmas-ornament salesman in his Airport Marina Hotel room April 2, said Sgt. Stephany Payne.

They have pleaded not guilty and had filed reports that the man, Herbert Seidenkrantz, raped them and that they had acted in self-defense.

But investigators said Jobe told an officer after 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? This gentleman’s story is not supported by the evidence.”

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

When detectives questioned Seidenkrantz after the stabbing, he told them he had drinks with the women after one of them struck up a conversation with him at the bar of a Los Angeles hotel in the 8600 block of Lincoln Boulevard. He invited the women to his room, but did not think 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.

Sometime 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’s chest, Payne said. He suffered multiple stab wounds but was able to go for help.

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 the salesman, and that she was afraid for her safety.

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

Slomovic said Jobe has a “minor record,” but would not discuss specifics. Police would not comment.

Investigators serving a search warrant at the Buena Park home where Howard lives with her husband and two children found a witches bible and other books on Satanism and witchcraft. Jobe, who has a daughter, was a house-guest at the Howards’ home.

Knives, swords, candles and a mausoleum plaque also were seized when detectives searched the home.

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