Prosecutor says accused women treated victims as ‘profit’

A prosecutor told jurors Thursday that two septuagenarian women accused of killing homeless men so they could collect on their life insurance policies saw their victims as “profit,” not human beings.

“They picked up complete strangers, men who they did not love, men not related to them, men who could not offer them any kind of financial support because they were homeless and destitute, and made them worth millions if dead,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Truc Do said in her closing argument, wrapping up four weeks in the murder trial.

Do said Helen Golay, 77, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 75, evenly split the work of the plot, with Rutterschmidt responsible for finding the homeless men and monitoring them over the two-year waiting period until the insurance companies could no longer contest the policies. Golay paid the premiums and the rent that enticed the men to sign over the benefits to the women, Do said.

Golay and Rutterschmidt clearly had no intention of waiting for the men to die, Do said, spending tens of thousands of dollars on life insurance policies that would expire in a decade for the men -- Kenneth McDavid, 50, and Paul Vados, 73 -- who had no major health problems.

“What kind of a gamble or investment is that?” she questioned. “They weren’t going to wait around for someone to naturally die to collect, because they weren’t going to be around.”

Defense Atty. Roger Jon Diamond, who is slated to present his arguments today, said outside court that the prosecution still had a “big hole” in its case.

Prosecutors did not attempt to identify who was behind the wheel of the vehicles that ran down McDavid and Vados.

“Through all the great presentation she made, the district attorney did not identify any eyewitness to the crimes or produce any scientific evidence linking Helen Golay to the murder scene,” said Diamond, who is representing Golay.

But Do said the women were just as guilty of murder as the driver because they were “conspirators” or “aiders and abettors.”

Earlier this week, Diamond tried to show that his client’s daughter, Kecia Golay, was driving the Mercury Sable station wagon that ran over McDavid.

Do, in a PowerPoint presentation, took a sarcastic jab at the theory, displaying a photo of Golay with a speech bubble that read: “My daughter did it! (with Olga?)” Rutterschmidt also drew Do’s caustic PowerPoint treatment; her photo was displayed with the speech bubble, “I didn’t know murder was part of the plan!” (Neither woman testified, and there was no evidence that either of them made such statements.)

Rutterschmidt’s attorney, Michael Sklar, chose not to call any witnesses and is expected to argue that prosecutors failed to prove their case against his client.

Do told jurors that Rutterschmidt was clearly involved because she “itemized” the “cost of the murder plot” in a notebook found in her apartment.

During the trial, prosecutors presented detailed evidence on McDavid’s death, including DNA on the undercarriage of a station wagon that was towed from the scene the night of the killing.

Golay’s auto club membership was used to call for the tow.

As Do completed her two-hour presentation, Golay’s eyes reddened and she blotted tears from her face.

Defense attorneys are expected to give their closing arguments today, and the case is expected to go to the jury Monday.

Golay and Rutterschmidt each face two counts of murder and two counts of conspiracy to murder for financial gain.

victoria.kim@latimes.com