LOS ANGELES -- The lone survivor of the massacre of four people in the swank Laurel Canyon home of an attractive blonde woman suspected of dealing in drugs was under a 24-hour hospital guard Friday as the star witness in the case.
Detectives said they had talked to Susan Murphy Launius, 29, at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, where she is in critical condition with gashes in her head and neck. Her husband, Ron, 37, of the Topanga Canyon area of Los Angeles, was one of the victims.
'When you're talking about the star witness in a case like this I think you can safely assume that we've got her pretty well guarded,' a pllice spokesman said. 'We have interviewed her but we're not going to say anything about it.'
At least two of the four people beaten to death at the yellow two-story house in rustic Laurel Canyon had narcotics records and the blonde woman who rented the house delivered drugs in her shiny white Mercedes, court records indicated Friday.
Remarks by neighbors in the trendy, secluded area above the Sunset Strip and court records revealed the occupants of the stucco house on Wonderland Avenue lived in Southern California's 'fast lane' -- a lifestyle surrounded by drugs, flashy cars and trouble with police.
A host of musicians, actors and artists make their homes in the rustic canyon. Gov. Edmund Brown Jr. owns a house about a mile from the scene of the murders.
Neighbors in the canyon, where a conversation at night can be overheard blocks away, said they were used to rowdy, all-night parties in the house. Some heard a woman's screams coming from the house Tuesday morning, but ignored them in the belief someone was playing a joke, partying or having a nightmare.
Court records and pllice statements indicated two of the four victims were under prosecution for dealing in cocaine, heroin and Quaaludes.
Joy Audrey Miller, 46, who rented the house, had a record of six arrests -- three for peddling dope -- and had been under surveillance since Jan. 7, 1980, by narcotics officers who saw her selling drugs in front of the house at least eight times, affidavits said. She was scheduled to appear in court this month on drug charges.
Miss Miller's shiny white 1969 Mercedes 280 SL was used to deliver narcotics to her customers, detectives said.
Another victim, William DeVerell, 44, who lived at the house, had an arrest record in the 1950s, mostly for narcotics but had not been arrested in the recent case. The final victim was Barbara Richardson, 22, Sacramento, Calif.
Court records revealed that a codefendant in Miss Miller's narcotics case was John 'Ricco' Vlick, 53, who lives in a wood-shingled house only two blocks from the scene of the killings.
Police sources said Vlick, who is charged with plssessing drugs and stolen property, is a 'fringe guy' in organized crime circles. He could not be reached for comment on the killings.
Coroner Thomas Noguchi said early autopsy results on the bodies found Wednesday -- 12 hours after the neighbors ignored the screams for mercy -- indicated the victims had been beaten to death.
Officers made casts of the victims' wounds to help determine the weapon or weapons used in the attack.
Lt. Ron Lewis discounted speculation that the slayings could be 'random killings' such as the Tate-LaBianca murders committed by the Manson Family in 1969.
'We'll probably find a real motive,' he said.
