Stage actor is arrested in bizarre double murder; park is closed as police look for dismembered body parts

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/05/actor-accused-in-bizarre-double-murder-park-closed-as-police-look-for-body-parts.html

Stage actor is arrested in bizarre double murder; park is closed as
police look for dismembered body parts
May 28, 2010 | 3:32 pm

A man arrested in the killing of a Costa Mesa college student and an
Irvine woman is an actor who had just wrapped up a nearly month-long
performance of the musical “Nine” at the Hunger Artists Theatre in
Fullerton.

Police said the suspect, Daniel Wozniak, 27, was scheduled to be
married this weekend, but it was unclear to whom.

The bizarre case began Saturday when the body of Julie Kibuishi, 23,
of Irvine was found at the apartment of Orange Coast College student
Samuel Herr, 26. Costa Mesa police began looking for Herr, believing
he had killed the woman.

Costa Mesa police, however, linked Wozniak to the woman's killing
after transactions from Herr's ATM card were traced to him. Wozniak
was arrested Wednesday night at a restaurant in Huntington Beach on
suspicion of being an accessory to homicide. He later was booked on
suspicion of murder.

On Thursday, authorities found Herr's dismembered body at the Los
Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base. Wozniak apparently gained entry
to the base by telling guards he had performed at the base theater as
an actor.

Authorities allege that Wozniak killed Herr on May 21 and that his
body was dismembered. Wozniak allegedly removed Herr’s head, left arm
and right hand and discarded them at El Dorado Park in Long Beach. On
Friday, portions of the park were closed as authorities looked for
evidence, including more body parts. Some of Herr's body parts also
were found at the Los Alamitos base theater.

Police allege that Wozniak used Herr’s cellphone to lure Kibuishi to
Herr’s Costa Mesa apartment across the street from Orange Coast
College, police said. There, he allegedly shot her in the head and
staged it as a possible sexual assault, police said. Officers
initially though Herr was the killer because they could not find him
in the days after Kibuishi was found dead in his bedroom.




Detectives monitoring Herr’s financial activity discovered someone
accessed his account through an ATM. When police contacted the person
using Herr’s card, a 17-year-old boy, the boy told police he was
taking out money for Wozniak.

Wozniak and Herr apparently were neighbors. Kibuishi had both of them
listed as “friends” on her Facebook account.

--Paloma Esquivel, Joseph Serna and Christopher Goffard in Costa Mesa

Photo: Daniel Wozniak


Credit: Costa Mesa Police Department


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