Slayings of Jurist, Wife Believed Tied to His Court Work

Investigators are now convinced that the ambush slayings of a Los Angeles County court commissioner and his wife outside their Rancho Cucamonga home in March were related to his work as a family law judge.

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Sgt. Bobby Dean, who is heading the investigation, said Friday that detectives have combed through 170 cases handled by Commissioner H. George Taylor, looking for a likely suspect.

Seven hundred files remain to be examined.

Taylor and his wife, Lynda, were gunned down March 18 in the driveway of their fashionable home in the foothills of Mt. Baldy.

He was hit by shotgun blasts fired through the driver’s side of his sedan as he pulled into the driveway about 9:30 p.m. His wife was mortally wounded when she ran out of the house in her nightclothes to investigate the noise.

Immediately after the slayings, neighbors reported seeing a white compact car, possibly a 1992 Honda CRX, speeding from the scene. The driver was described as a white man, about 45 or older, with glasses and brown or gray hair.

Dean said his five-member homicide team looked closely into the Taylors’ personal lives and family ties and ruled out any likely link to the slayings.

They also explored the possibility that the killer might have been a patient in the psychiatric ward at San Bernardino County Hospital, where Lynda Taylor worked as an occupational therapist.

“That didn’t check out either,” Dean said.

Since then, detectives have concentrated their efforts on Taylor’s work as a family law judge at Norwalk Superior Court, handling divorces and child custody disputes, in which emotions often run high.

Several aspects of the slayings heighten suspicions that the killer might be an angry litigant. Taylor was clearly the primary target, Dean said. The killer was lying in wait behind some bushes beside the driveway, and Taylor’s wife was alone inside the house at the time, with doors unlocked and the alarm system inoperative.

“The killer could have gone after her any time he wanted, but didn’t,” the sergeant said.

Dean also said the killer displayed “a lot of rage and anger,” as evidenced by the number and location of the wounds to the Taylors. George Taylor was struck by three shotgun blasts, and Lynda Taylor was felled by two.

The tedious chore of scouring Taylor’s case files--he had been assigned to the family court for many years--has produced one possible suspect, who has not been charged but who has not been eliminated either, Dean said.

“We talked to him several times,” the investigator said. “The fact that we’re looking at other names doesn’t mean we’re no longer interested in him.”

Meantime, the presiding judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court has written a memo to all judges encouraging them to review security at their homes.

Judge Victor E. Chavez issued the warning Wednesday after meeting with Dean and other investigators from the San Bernardino County and Los Angeles County sheriff’s departments.

“The investigating deputies relate that some basic security precautions had not been instituted at the Taylor home,” Chavez wrote. “The lighting in the area where the killer hid was woefully insufficient; that side of the home was quite dark; the alarm was not operative; and the doors were not locked, making persons in the home vulnerable.”

In addition, he noted, the Taylors had personalized license plates on their cars, making them easier to follow, and they had not established ties with their neighbors.

“Perhaps this tragedy will prompt us to take advantage of the sheriffs’ advice and their willingness to inspect our homes and make security recommendations,” Chavez wrote.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department maintains an eight-member unit assigned to provide security for judges and members of the Board of Supervisors.

Deputy Steve Wheatcroft, who has been with the unit for 12 years, said Friday that the Taylor killings were the first in his memory in which a judicial officer was evidently attacked as a result of his work.

“Until this case, I guess we’ve just been lucky,” he added.