Videotape might yield identity of Century City killer

LAPD detectives have video surveillance tape they claim shows a hit man moments after he killed a woman in a Century City parking garage earlier this year.

The man (see LAPD sketch below) was captured on the camera system shortly before driving out of the parking garage where Pamela Fayed's bloody body was found moments later by those who heard her screams. James Fayed, a gold dealer, is charged with capital murder for  allegedly paying the manager of his Moorpark ranch, Jose Luis Moya, $25,000 to help arrange the July slaying of his estranged wife, with whom he was involved in bitter divorce proceedings.

Authorities allege the killer is a man whom Moya knows and recruited to commit the attack.

The man is seen on the video getting out of a rented Suzuki SUV and trying to get a barrier to go up so he can exit the parking garage at 1875 Century Park East. LAPD Detective Salaam Abdul said the suspect is allegedly accompanied in the passenger seat by Moya.

Based on the video, investigators believe the suspect is about 5-foot-10 and weighs 160 to 180 pounds. The LAPD plans to hold a news conference on the matter later today.

Pamela Fayed, 44, had just visited her lawyer’s office and was returning to her parked car when she was attacked. James Fayed was also at the law office at the time. Abdul said James Fayed was still in sight of those at the office at time of his wife’s attack. Abdul said that a sketch of the suspect has been compared with photos of known gang members in the Oxnard and Ventura area but so far has not produced any results.

Fingerprints were obtained from the crime scene or vehicle but so far have not yielded an identity, Abdul said.

“This individual may still be in Oxnard or Ventura. Someone out there knows who he is,” Abdul said. Fayed, 45, and Moya, 47, a onetime gang member, are accused of lying in wait and committing a murder for financial gain -- special circumstances that could prompt prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

--Richard Winton

Comments

[Commenter]

Does anyone find it weird that the video released of the killer exiting the parking garage- he in a white shirt and there's no blood on him at all? This was a BRUTAL murder...how could he have no blood on him? And why did the police take so long to post the sketch?