Slain Kidnap Victim Was Subject of FBI Probe

Christopher Rawlings, who was killed last week in a fiery crash of his Bentley automobile as his kidnappers tried to elude police, was under fraud investigation by the FBI at the time of his death, police sources confirmed Sunday.

LAPD detectives and FBI agents are currently investigating whether Rawlings’ business practices may have been related to his death, according to police sources.

The sources, who asked not to be named, declined to provide details about the fraud investigation or how it might relate to the slaying of the 30-year-old businessman.

“It’s something we’re looking at. It’s too early to say whether there’s a connection there,” said one of the sources.

Meanwhile, authorities said Sunday there will be a news conference Tuesday regarding Rawlings’ killing but refused to say what developments will be disclosed.

Rawlings was the co-owner of Gentleman’s Quarters clothing store in Woodland Hills. He also worked for an auto leasing company and played the stock market, friends and police sources said.

Police declined to say which of Rawlings’ business ventures was the subject of the FBI probe.

Friends described Rawlings as intense and driven to succeed. At an early age, he had already acquired some of the trappings of wealth: He drove a Bentley, which cost more than $200,000; he wore a Rolex watch and dressed in designer clothes. He and his wife, Barbie, leased a house in an affluent Woodland Hills neighborhood of half-million-dollar homes.

Shortly after the abduction, police had theorized that robbers had spotted Rawlings’ expensive car at a nearby supermarket, where he had gone to buy diapers last Monday night, and then followed him home.

About 9 p.m. Monday, Barbie Rawlings reported hearing her husband’s car drive into the garage. A few minutes later, she said she went to meet him and witnessed two men beating him.

Barbie Rawlings retreated to the house, locked the door from the garage, gathered up the couple’s two children and ran upstairs to call police.

In the garage, the men forced Christopher Rawlings into the trunk of the Bentley and sped away in the vehicle just as police arrived, authorities said.

Officers pursued the suspects east on the Ventura Freeway where the luxury sedan hit speeds high enough to outrun LAPD patrol cars, according to detectives.

A short time later, the Bentley exited the freeway at Tampa Avenue, where it hit another car and careened into a power pole, ejecting Rawlings from the trunk. The car burst into flames and power was knocked out for blocks around the accident scene.

Police cordoned off the area and launched an extensive manhunt for the kidnappers with K-9 units and helicopters, lasting into the early morning.

But the assailants escaped the police perimeter under cover of darkness caused by the power outage.

One of the assailants also carjacked a Mazda on nearby Wilbur Avenue, police said. The car was later found abandoned on the Foothill Freeway near Maclay Avenue.

Rawlings, who suffered severe head injuries, was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where he died Wednesday evening. Doctors said he never regained consciousness.

Times staff writer Nancy Trejos contributed to this story.