Man’s Caretaker to Face Charges of Killing Predecessor

The live-in caretaker of an elderly disabled man is scheduled to be arraigned today in Van Nuys Municipal Court on a charge of murdering his predecessor in the job.

Theodore Elert Lewis, 55, is accused of shooting to death the previous caretaker and stuffing the body in the trunk of the dead man’s car, said Los Angeles Police Det. Stephen Fisk of the Van Nuys station. He was being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

Van Nuys detectives arrested Lewis on Friday afternoon at the home of William Braem in an upper-middle-class hillside neighborhood in Sherman Oaks, where he had served as Braem’s caretaker since Aug. 11. That was the day the body of Braem’s former employee, Stephen Schwarzwald, was found in the trunk of Schwarzwald’s late-model Lincoln, Fisk said.

Police believe money was the motive for the killing, and Fisk said detectives found physical evidence linking Lewis to the crime. He declined to elaborate.

Braem declined comment following Lewis’ arrest.

Braem, described by police as in his mid-80s and in a wheelchair, told police that Schwarzwald left the house at about 6 p.m. the previous day and never returned.

Schwarzwald, 41, was found fully clothed with at least one bullet wound the morning of Aug. 11, shortly after Braem called police to file a missing persons report. The car containing his body was parked in the driveway of the house he and his employer shared in the 4000 block of Cody Road.

Friends said Schwarzwald often wore a cowboy hat with a Confederate flag on it, loved late-model cars and frequented “cruise spots” around the Valley.

“He had a lot of friends, he was nice,” said John Bohannon. “He would never hurt a fly.”