Suspect Has Manslaughter Conviction

A Palmdale woman, who with her husband is accused of killing her mother for an inheritance and to escape debt, was previously convicted of voluntary manslaughter in Northern California, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Vanessa Walker, 41, was convicted in 1989 in connection with the death of her first husband in Contra Costa County, according to an amended felony complaint filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

The complaint charges Walker and her 39-year-old husband, Ken, with killing Nada Lazarevic, a Lancaster seamstress. The defendants each face one count of conspiracy and murder with a special allegation that the slaying was committed for financial gain.

The special allegation could make them eligible for the death penalty. They will be formally arraigned Dec. 5, prosecutors said.

Sheriff’s homicide detectives said Lazarevic lent her daughter and son-in-law tens of thousands of dollars to pay off credit cards, make a down payment on their house and help finance a move to Oregon.

But after Lazarevic confronted them about overdue bills and debts estimated up to $50,000, the couple killed Lazarevic, dumping her body on a remote stretch of Kern County highway, investigators said.

Vanessa Walker was convicted in 1989 of shooting her first husband, Lance Michael Marquez, 24, in the head and then staging the scene to look like a suicide, the Contra Costa Times reported.

Walker, who lived in Pittsburg, Calif., then, argued that she was a victim of battered women’s syndrome and had no choice but to kill him, according to the newspaper.

She had no criminal history and pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. She received a three-year sentence and served 18 months in state prison.

Lazarevic was reported missing Aug. 25 by family and friends. Although initially classified as a missing-person case, investigators quickly concluded that there was more to the disappearance, a sheriff’s detective said.

Described as a punctual woman who kept to a regular schedule, Lazarevic vanished without taking her heart medicine or alerting family, friends or neighbors, with whom she regularly kept in touch.

Two weeks later, her gold 2000 Toyota Camry was recovered near Yucca Avenue and Jackman Street in Lancaster.

Ken Walker, an auto mechanic, was arrested Sept. 12, released and rearrested Sept. 14 on charges of murder in his mother-in-law’s death. Vanessa Walker was arrested Oct. 6 while visiting her husband at the Twin Towers jail downtown.