Murderous landlady case goes to trial in Downtown L.A.
DOWNTOWN LA It was a nice change for Olga Rutterschmidt.
With television news cameras focused in and lights glaring overhead, the accused murderer took her seat in Department 102 at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Courthouse on Thursday for her arraignment, fashioning a blue pantsuit.
A few seats down at the same table as the 74-year-old Rutterschmidt sat her accused partner in crime, 76-year-old Helen Golay, a Santa Monica landlord who looked ahead at the judge, with an exhausted look on her face. The fashion show ended there as Golay was still wearing her orange LA County prison jumpsuit.
The two women sat quietly as Judge David Wesley read aloud the charges the two faced in the murders of Paul Vados and Kenneth McDavid, two men killed in separate yet similar hit-and-run incidents in 1999 and 2005, respectively. “Not guilty.” After pleading to the charges, a May 2 date was established for the pretrial hearing.
The trial has been set for May 23.
Deputy District Attorney Shellie Samuels said she will know in a few days whether she will push for the death penalty.
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 before they were killed.
Both women took out multiple life insurance policies for McDavid and Vados, claiming they were their fiancées, cousins or even business partners. The women collected several million dollars in life insurance payouts, but several of the insurance companies refused to pay out, citing that their claims were under investigation.
The judge also granted a waiver of personal presence for Golay, who complained of not getting enough sleep during the preliminary hearing two weeks ago.
“It’s very difficult for her,” Golay defense attorney Roger Jon Diamond said following the arraignment.
On Thursday morning, Golay, who is being held without bail in a facility in Lynwood, was awoken at 3 a.m. and arrived at the Downtown LA courthouse around 7:30 a.m. Diamond called the waiver a technicality since Golay will be in court most of the time.
“It’s torture for her to come down here,” Diamond said.
MORE TESTING UPCOMING Investigators plan to conduct more testing on the Mercury Sable that is being used as evidence in the case, Samuels said, asking if either defense attorney would like to be present during testing.
On the night of June 21, 2005, when McDavid was believed to have been killed in a Westwood alley, AAA was called to tow a 1999 silver Mercury Sable from a gas station at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Westwood Boulevard to the intersection of Fifth Street and Ocean Park Boulevard in Santa Monica. The latter intersection is located a block away from where Golay was living at the time. Detectives believe the Mercury Sable was used to hit McDavid, an incident that occurred just a few blocks away from where the car was towed.
Despite all the evidence presented against Golay during the preliminary hearing — a hearing that included testimonies from relatives of the victims who stated they were not related to either Golay or Rutterschmidt — she reportedly remains optimistic that she will be cleared of the murder charges.
“She’s encouraged,” Diamond said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 30, 2007. Read the original PDF.