Rathbun Hated Sobek, Two Models Testify

Two models testified Tuesday in the murder trial of Charles Rathbun that the freelance photographer hated Linda Sobek and vehemently vowed that he would never work with her again.

Prosecutors called the two witnesses in an attempt to raise the question of why Rathbun would have asked the blond bathing suit model to pose for photographs involving a sports utility vehicle.

Also, a Lexus employee who handed over the prototype sports utility vehicle to Rathbun the day the murder took place testified that the photographer asked for the Lexus employee’s telephone number when he returned the vehicle four days later.

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Model and actress Amy Weber, who had worked with Rathbun four times, said that in September 1994, while driving to Malibu for a photo shoot, the two began discussing possible models he could use for an upcoming swimsuit layout for Sport Truck magazine.

When Weber suggested Sobek, she said the photographer clutched the steering wheel and his voice skyrocketed. He angrily said that Sobek “was a little bitch and deserved what she got coming to her and he would never work with her,” Weber testified.

Weber said she never related the photographer’s opinion to Sobek because she didn’t want to hurt her feelings.

Model Tiffany Richardson, who often competed with Sobek for jobs because they were both 5 feet, 3 inches tall, said she had a similar conversation with Rathbun in October 1994. While in Glendale for a photo shoot for All Chevy magazine, Richardson said Rathbun told her, “Oh, I’ll never work with her again. She’s a bitch and difficult to work with.” But he never explained what caused those feelings of animosity, Richardson testified.

Rathbun, a photographer who specialized in automobiles, is accused of murdering and sexually assaulting Sobek, a 27-year-old former Raiders cheerleader and model, who disappeared Nov. 16 while the two were on a photo shoot for Auto Week magazine.

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He has pleaded not guilty. Her body was discovered in a shallow grave Nov. 24 in the Angeles National Forest. She had been sodomized with an object and had died of asphyxiation.

Earlier in the day, Joella Lam, an administrative assistant for the public relations department of Lexus, testified that she turned over the sports utility vehicle used in the Sobek photo shoot to Rathbun on Nov. 16. While at the Lexus office in Torrance, the two talked about their interest in bicycling.

When Rathbun returned the vehicle Nov. 20, Lam said the photographer said he had been thinking of her. “He made the comment that he had thought about me [when he wanted to go bicycling] over the weekend but didn’t know how to get a hold of me,” she said. He then asked for her telephone number, which she gave him, Lam said.

The Rathbun trial in Torrance Superior Court is expected to last until Oct. 25.