Woman Held in Hit-Run Death of Husband

A Newport Beach woman was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of killing her estranged husband by repeatedly running over him in the car they had been arguing about, authorities said.

Witnesses told investigators they saw Kenneth Jerome Van Houten being thrown from his bike after he was hit by a faded red Geo Storm about 8 a.m. Wednesday, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Mike McDermott said.

Horrified, they watched as the car backed toward the 52-year-old man as he lay motionless on the ground, McDermott said. The car hit Van Houten three times before the driver fled from the intersection of Flagship and Patrice streets.

Van Houten died at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.

A few hours later, officers arrested 40-year-old Leslie Van Houten at a Newport Beach home where she works as a housekeeper. (Police said the woman is no relation to the Leslie Van Houten who is serving a prison sentence for a 1969 murder orchestrated by Charles Manson.)

McDermott said the couple, who were still living together with their three children, had argued about whether the wife could use the car.

“She wanted to hide the car, but her husband found out about it,” McDermott said. “He wanted to put a club on the car to prevent her from using it, [but] she found him.”