Woman Charged in Fatal Shooting of Boyfriend

A 32-year-old suspected embezzler has been charged with the murder of her live-in boyfriend, whose body was found buried in the backyard of the couple’s rented Topanga Canyon home months ago.

Christina Marie White, who has been in jail since October on unrelated theft charges, was charged Thursday with fatally shooting Peter Paul, 29, on Sept. 14.

Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Homicide Det. Martin Rodriguez said the motive for the slaying was unknown, but “we assume that it was domestic discord, since they were living together as boyfriend and girlfriend.”

Paul’s partially decomposed body was discovered Sept. 30 by the landlord, as he inspected the property after White moved out.

Rodriguez said the landlord noticed some disturbed earth near a woodpile at a corner of the property and began digging to see what had been buried there. He found Paul’s remains.

White allegedly told several acquaintances that she killed Paul, Rodriguez said.

White, also known as Timi Vaughn and Tia Williams, was arrested in October and charged in two separate cases with stealing from past employers, according to Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti.

Authorities suspect White embezzled a total of about $800,000 from a Beverly Hills printing company and a Malibu businessman.

She is alleged to have stolen the money by writing checks made out to cash to herself and former boyfriends.

Detectives said she spent much of the money remodeling a home, living well and traveling to Hawaii, London and Amsterdam. She grew up in Pacific Palisades and is believed to have been involved in the drug scene, authorities said.

Paul, a construction company owner and aspiring actor, began living with White in June.

After his death, White disappeared. She had been identified as one of the Los Angeles Police Department’s most-wanted fugitives, and was arrested in Palmdale in October.

White is scheduled to be arraigned in Paul’s killing Wednesday in Malibu, where she is also expected to face a preliminary hearing on the Malibu theft case. A preliminary hearing for the Beverly Hills theft case is scheduled for Jan. 26 in Los Angeles.