Murder suspect posed as officer

Jackson Bell

A Burbank resident charged this week with killing his live-in

girlfriend apparently deceived friends and neighbors into believing

he was a Los Angeles Police officer, authorities said.

Ray Pascual, 38, who was arrested Monday on suspicion of killing

37-year-old Courtney Quintin, worked as a security guard and not an

LAPD officer, Burbank Police Sgt. William Berry said.

“Apparently, he told friends that he was employed with the police

department, but he was not,” Berry said. “Nor was he a police officer

anywhere else.”

According to Berry, the couple had a history of domestic violence,

but nothing was reported to Burbank Police until Monday, when

Quintin’s body was discovered inside the couple’s condominium in the

400 block of East San Jose Avenue.

According to Deputy Dist. Atty. Lee Mitchell, when police found

Quintin she had been shot once in the head, her wrists handcuffed and

her ankles bound by duct tape and rope.

A pillow with a bullet hole was placed over her head. Her body, he

added, had been placed in a white plastic bag.

A gun was found in Pascual’s car, but its connection to the

killing is still under investigation, Mitchell added.

Robert Pearson, who lived next door to the couple, described

Pascual as friendly, but said he would go out of his way to lie to

neighbors.

“One time, he came over and wanted to borrow the L.A. Times

because it had an article about the police unit he was supposedly

in,” he said. “It’s so bizarre, and he was so convincing Courtney

certainly supported it.”

Pascual, whose scheduled arraignment Wednesday was postponed until

Oct. 21, remains in custody on $2 million bail.