Charges Added in Murder-for-Hire Case

Additional charges were filed Thursday against a former Los Angeles County fire captain already in custody on charges of trying to have his ex-wife killed after a nasty divorce that included a mysterious house fire.

Gary L. Sizemore, 43, was charged with a second count of solicitation of murder. He was also charged with possessing a destructive device near a public place and possessing components used to make bombs, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Rhonda Saunders.

Sizemore pleaded innocent to the charges Thursday in Pasadena. He is due back in court Dec. 13 for a preliminary hearing. Bail has been set at $2 million.

Sizemore was arrested April 7 on charges of trying to hire a man, identified by authorities as his cousin, Mark Tatum, to kill his wife of 17 years, Judith Elizabeth Sizemore, in November 1998.

The relationship between the two has been compared by authorities to that of the feuding couple in the movie “The War of the Roses.”

At the time of his arrest, Sizemore was charged only with one count of solicitation of murder.

Now, after further investigation, authorities say that Sizemore also asked Alison Oliver, a woman he once dated, to kill his wife, Saunders said.

In 1997, Monrovia detectives investigated a fire set under Judith Sizemore’s bed that ignited hours before the couple were to appear in court for a lawsuit she had brought against her husband. No one was arrested in that investigation, police said.