Trial opens as Golay complains about time
DOWNTOWN, LA It was the moment they had all been waiting for.
After months of delays and waiting, Santa Monica landlord Helen Golay, 76, finally had her day in court on Monday, starting the first day of an expected three-day preliminary hearing at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
It’s been almost 10 months since Golay and her alleged accomplice, Olga Rutterschmidt, a Hungarian immigrant from Hollywood who turned 74 last Monday, were arrested for federal mail fraud charges. Those charges were later dropped when the Los Angeles County District Attorney filed murder charges against the pair in late July of 2007.
The trial has been marked by delay after delay, as the preliminary hearing date wasn’t set until just a few months ago. The latest postponement occurred last month when the preliminary hearing date of Feb. 20 was postponed to Monday.
Even the beginning of the preliminary hearing date on Monday was delayed for an hour in order for Judge David Wesley to conclude another trial.
The pair of women are accused of murdering Paul Vados, 73, and Kenneth McDavid, 50, both of whom were killed in separate yet similar hit-and-run incidents in 1999 and 2005, respectively. Investigators believe that Golay and Rutterschmidt concocted a scheme in which they befriended the two men when they were still homeless, setting them up in apartments and gaining their trust. The women then allegedly convinced Vados and McDavid to sign them onto their life insurance policies.
Investigators believe the women collected millions of dollars from the men’s life insurance policies.
The preliminary hearing did not get very far, as it started late and was mainly filled with the testimony of witness Robert Brockway who was an investigator for almost seven years with the California Department of Insurance.
His testimony lasted for hours as Deputy District Attorney Shellie Samuels provided page after page of evidence showing different life insurance applications and claim forms that both Golay and Rutterschmidt had filed over the years with different insurance companies, alternately calling themselves the men’s fiancés, cousins and even investment partners.
The insurance policies ranged from around $20,000 to nearly $1 million. Both Golay and Rutterschmidt signed onto many of the policies together. In some applications, they were both named as the primary beneficiaries, splitting the payout evenly. In others, Golay would be mentioned as the primary beneficiary and Rutterschmidt as the contingent. In others, Golay’s 43-year-old daughter, Kecia Golay, was named as the contingent beneficiary.
The one time insurance investigator, Brockway, who now works in the Department of Justice, sat at the stand under oath, identifying and revealing information on every single piece of evidence that Samuels placed on the overhead projector. In a table next to Samuels sat Rutterschmidt and Golay with their defense attorneys, Public Defender Michael Sklar and Roger Jon Diamond, respectively. All four stared at the projection to their right.
Among the forms placed on the projector were letters allegedly written by Golay who threatened litigation against the insurance companies that did not respond to her requests for life insurance payouts. Several of the companies like Garden State Life Insurance from whom the pair was seeking a payout for McDavid’s death, did not fulfill the claim pending an investigation.
On more than one occasion, Rutterschmidt claimed to be Vados’ cousin. The former homeless man was also Hungarian.
In a policy seeking $500,000 from Empire General Life Insurance, the women claimed to both be investment partners while Golay also listed herself down as McDavid’s fiancé.
The women had filed more than 20 life insurance applications on McDavid and Vados.
Only one other witness testified on Monday. The former apartment manager for Vados, Maria Zamarripa, spoke through a Spanish language interpreter, answering questions for both Samuels and Sklar as he cross-examined the witness. She was the apartment manager for Vados at the time of his death and recalled seeing Rutterschmidt stop by once a month to help Vados pay his rent, occasionally bringing him groceries and clean clothes.
She pointed at Rutterschmidt, identifying her as Vados’ frequent visitor and remembered the Hungarian native coming by to inform her that Vados was missing, and later that he died.
The witness mentioned that there was another women who occasionally came by with Rutterschmidt, but did not identify her as Golay.
When Sklar cross-examined the witness, he raised questions about Vados’ drinking habits. Zamarripa confirmed that Vados drank alcohol often and “had a hard time caring for himself,” as Sklar said. Was it not true that Rutterschmidt appeared to be Vados’ friend, Sklar asked.
The witness said yes. The hearing will continue today and Samuels said she expects to wrap things up on Wednesday. She believes that about 20 to 25 witnesses will have been heard by the end of the preliminary trial with most testimonies taking roughly five minutes.
At the beginning of the preliminary hearing, Diamond requested once again for the judge to allow Golay to be awakened at a later time during court appearance days. The L.A. County Jail inmate was awoken at 3 a.m. on Monday for her hearing, Diamond said. The courthouse does not open until 8:30 a.m.
The early morning hours affects Golay’s ability to concentrate during the proceedings and Diamond said he fears that it will have detrimental effects in the long-run if the case does go to trial. He suggested leaving Golay asleep until 7 a.m.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 13, 2007. Read the original PDF.