Woman Guilty of Murdering Her Mother

A woman sent to prison for killing her husband in 1989 was convicted Wednesday of murdering her 67-year-old mother.

Vanessa Walker, 44, and her husband, Ken, 40, both of Palmdale, were tried before separate juries for the 2001 slaying of her mother, Nada Lazarevic, whose body was found dumped in Sequoia National Forest.

After deliberating for a day, a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury found Vanessa Walker guilty of second-degree murder, but acquitted her of first-degree murder and conspiracy charges. She faces 35 years to life in prison when she is sentenced Aug. 12. The jury for Ken Walker, who is charged with murder and conspiracy, was still deliberating Wednesday.

Vanessa Walker was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 1989 for shooting her first husband to death in Contra Costa County. She said she was a victim of battered women’s syndrome and served 18 months of a three-year sentence.

Detectives said Lazarevic gave her daughter and son-in-law, an auto mechanic, financial assistance for years, co-signing credit applications and giving them money for a down payment on a home. In August 2001, Lazarevic planned to confront the pair about nearly $50,000 in credit card debt the two had racked up in her name, Deputy Dist. Atty. Vivian Moreno said.

The woman was reported missing on Aug. 25, 2001, and her body was found about two weeks later off a desolate Kern County highway, about 90 miles from her Lancaster home.

Vanessa Walker’s attorney, Amy Jacks, said her client didn’t kill her mother.

“I can only speculate as to what happened in the house that night,” she said. But she said Lazarevic’s death was the result of an argument between Ken Walker and his mother-in-law.

Ken Walker’s attorney, Llona Peltyn, told jurors last week that her client was innocent. The most he did, she said, was help his wife dispose of her mother’s body.