Former reality show contestant pleads not guilty in slaying of adult film actress

Former reality TV show contestant Brian Randone, 45, pleaded not guilty at an arraignment today to charges of torturing and killing his girlfriend, Felicia Tang Lee.

Prosecutors allege that Randone, a Christian minister and contestant in the 2000 Fox pageant "America's Sexiest Bachelor," tortured then suffocated Lee in the home they shared in the 500 block of West Duarte Road in Monrovia.

Lee, 31, was pronounced dead on Sept. 11 after Randone called police to report that she was not breathing. He was arrested within hours and charged with her death four days later. Lee, a model and actress who had appeared in adult films, met Randone at a pool at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas in April. Friends said they had been living together for about four months.

Though Judge Terry Smerling sealed photos of Lee's injuries at the arraignment, he said, "the photos, needless to say, are gruesome." Deputy Dist. Atty. Philip Wojdak said only that there were "innumerable injuries to Ms. Tang's body" caused by an unknown weapon. He added that bruising on Lee's body led investigators to believe she was suffocated against a hard surface, without a weapon.

Randone’s bail was set at $2 million, and his next court date is Oct. 9.

-- Anthony Pesce in Pasadena

Related:

The Homicide Report: Dispatch: 'She did not deserve to be beaten … she was a nice gal and she didn’t deserve it'

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Comments

[kooo]

I have no personal knowledge of the facts in this case, but IMO, the type of injury to this woman suggests that this guy was over flowing with jealously... The classic double standard where guys seek out "hot" looking woman, especially if they think they are "easy", but once together, is under a constant rage of jealously, resulting in over controlling behavior and accusations of being a "slut" and a "whore"... similar to the recent tragedy involving another reality contestant who brutally murdered his ex-wife and fled to Canada and committed suicide. If you can't handle your uber sensitive ego, don't go trying to hook up with "hot" women. Simple.

[Patrick Ford]

This guy was obviously conflicted. He goes to school to become a minister, yet he appears on a reality show called America's Sexiest Batchelor and is hanging out in Vegas picking up women at the hotel pool. Doesn't sound like very Christian behavior, now does it?

He is probably self-loathing because his lust won out over his Christian principles. Jim Baker, Jimmy Swaggert and other so called ministers have all been busted engaging in carnal activities despite their preaching a Christian, family-oriented lifestyle.

These are the types that will most likely indulge in deviant behavior, because they are trying to repress any natural sexual desires and they are not supposed to enjoy sex, as the bible tells them it is just a means to procreate. He may have blamed her for HIS sins.

If he is tried and convicted, at least he won't have a chance to become the next David Koresh or Jim Jones.