Man Slain in Mulholland Robbery Try

Robbers shot and killed a man who had stopped his Jeep Cherokee on a scenic portion of Mulholland Drive early Saturday to admire the lights of the San Fernando Valley with a female companion, authorities said. Hours later, police investigating the incident said they found another body in a car nearby.

No immediate connection was made between the two deaths, said Lt. Anthony Alba, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman. It appeared that the man found in the second vehicle--a copper-colored Mercedes--had been dead for more than a day, Alba said.

In the case involving the Jeep, the driver of the vehicle plunged 170 feet off a cliff on the twisting, mountainous road as he sought to escape his assailants, police said.

“He was shot either once he was off the cliff or before he drove off the cliff,” Alba said. “He had gunshot wounds to the upper body.”

The shooting occurred in the same general vicinity where Ennis Cosby, the son of entertainer Bill Cosby, was killed in January while trying to fix a flat tire.

Alba said the couple had been parked on Mulholland Drive, between Coldwater Canyon Drive and Laurel Canyon Boulevard, shortly before 4 a.m. Saturday when two robbers approached. One of the men opened fire as the couple tried to drive away, Alba said.

The passenger of the Jeep was listed in stable condition at a hospital Saturday. She had been trapped in the vehicle but summoned help with the car phone, Alba said.

Authorities declined to release the identities of the couple, pending notification of their relatives. Both were in their 30s. As of Saturday evening, no arrests had been made.

While investigating the matter, detectives found the second body in the Mercedes about 100 feet below Mulholland Drive. The car was about a mile from where the Jeep went off the road, Alba said. It was not clear whether the vehicle was driven off the road or pushed, he said.

The Mercedes was found near an affluent gated community called The Summit.