LAPD Detectives Investigate String of Valley Slayings

It has been a deadly eight days in North Hollywood.

Since Aug. 7, six people have met violent deaths in the area patrolled by the North Hollywood Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, including a man and a woman whose bodies were found Thursday in a recording studio in the 5500 block of Riverton Avenue.

The bodies were discovered by a passerby about 1:30 p.m., authorities said. Each victim had been shot once in the upper body.

Police identified the man as Devin Lesser, 38, a self-employed security consultant. Officer John Moreno said the female victim, Rosaura Amy Bone, 18, worked for Lesser.

Their bodies were found in the rear of the warehouse-like building, near makeshift living quarters rented to Lesser, Moreno said. Detectives knew of no motive and had no suspects in the slayings.

A North Hollywood sergeant said the last week had been the bloodiest period at the division since she transferred there four years ago.

“I haven’t seen it this bad since I was at 77th Street [Division] in the late-’80s,” said Sgt. Donna Watkins, a 15-year veteran of the LAPD.

The recent incidents began about 8 p.m. Aug. 7, when Mora Baldella was beaten by two women at her apartment complex in the 13000 block of Vanowen Street.

Baldella, 32, had been involved in an argument with the assailants, who also lived in her building, police said.

Baldella was taken to a local hospital, where she died the next day. Homicide detectives arrested Sandra Rodelo, 41, and Olga Hernandez, 37, on suspicion of murder.

On Aug. 8, two men were shot in separate incidents.

Responding to a 10:30 p.m. call near Cleon Avenue and Burbank Boulevard, officers found Mark Joseph Colindres, 24, of Studio City in a vehicle, with a gunshot wound to his head. He died later at a local hospital.

Colindres, a passenger in the vehicle, was shot by an unidentified male in what appears to be a gang-related incident, police said.

An hour later, Oscar Armando Cubia, 18, of North Hollywood was shot in the chest near Oxnard Street and Cartwright Avenue. He died the next morning at a hospital, police said.

About 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, Eugenio Cruz, 30, of Sun Valley was shot in the head in the 12300 block of Huston Street and died in the street.

His vehicle, a 1988 Chevrolet Camaro convertible, with California license 3WFD202, has not been located.

Anyone with information is urged to call North Hollywood detectives at (818) 623-4045.