Man, Woman Arrested in Tourist’s Death Are Freed

A man and a woman have been released after their arrests in the fatal shooting of a German tourist near a luxury beachfront hotel in Santa Monica earlier this week, police said Friday.

Santa Monica Police Chief James T. Butts Jr. said the two--taken into custody about 5:30 p.m. Thursday in connection with the slaying of Horst Fietze--were released after 17 hours because of a lack of hard evidence.

Further confusing the situation, Butts released a composite sketch of a person said to be an accomplice in the Monday shooting of Fietze, a small-town painter who had pinched pennies for years to realize his dream of a California vacation.

Butts first said the drawing was of a male gunman. Hours later, police distributed a flier correcting the chief’s remarks, saying the sketch was of a woman who carried no weapon.

A composite drawing of the gunman is expected within days.

Butts said the grief-stricken wife of the victim has been unable to provide much information to police. She has returned to her hometown, Loebau, with friends.

The chief said the man and woman arrested Thursday had been picked up on the basis of a tip. He said they subsequently were identified by witnesses, “but a facial identification is not enough.”

Meanwhile, other tourists visited the block of Appian Way where the shooting occurred.

Guenter Scholz of Frankfurt read a note pinned to a tree that read, “Es Tut Uns Leid, Horst! Auf Wiedersehen.” He translated the note, silently mouthing, “We’re sorry, Horst. Goodbye.”

Like Fietze, Scholz had traveled from Germany with his wife and another couple. He said that they were confident when they arrived three weeks ago, but that they are now afraid and cautious.

“If you go somewhere, you look up to see what’s going on,” he said. “We take the taxi.”

But Tamara Felgitscher, a young Austrian woman traveling with two companions, said she would continue her vacation without fear.

“These things happen,” she said. “We know in Austria that it’s sometimes dangerous in America.”