Arrest Expected in Fatal San Marino Fire : Crime: Authorities refuse to give details, but say their probe of the blaze that killed five is going well. The lone survivor is too badly injured to talk.

By TED JOHNSON and BETTINA BOXALL

May 31, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Law enforcement officials say they expect to make an arrest in an arson fire that swept through a San Marino home early Monday, killing five people and badly burning a sixth.

San Marino and Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators declined to give any details or discuss a motive for the fatal blaze, but they said their inquiry is going well.

“There’s no doubt that they are going to make an arrest,” San Marino Police Chief Frank Wills said of the Sheriff’s Department, which is handling the case.

The five people killed in the fire, who were burned beyond recognition, have not yet been identified. But most members of the Morita family, which lived in the house at 2160 Sherwood Road, remain unaccounted for. Leonardo Morita, 46, was in critical condition at County-USC Medical Center, while his wife, Lusje, their three sons--Rama, 16, Krishna, 14, and Clint, 9--and their live-in housekeeper are missing.

Bianca Morita, 15, a cousin who was often at the home and whose whereabouts were unknown Monday, attended school Tuesday, authorities said.

Investigators have not been able to interview Leonardo Morita. “He can’t talk,” Wills said. “He’s on a respirator. Any dialogue we have [with Leonardo Morita] is going to be limited.”

A spokesman for the county coroner’s office said identification of the bodies cannot be made until dental and medical records are obtained. Preliminary indications are that three victims are male and two are female, said Capt. David Campbell. Autopsies were expected to be done today or Thursday.

Firefighters found Leonardo Morita severely burned in the driveway of the burning two-story house when they arrived shortly after 5:15 a.m. Monday. Morita told them there were three children inside, but the flames were too intense to reach them.

Morita, who works as a city electrician at the Hyperion Treatment Plant in Los Angeles, was burned over a third of his body, including his face, arms and legs. He also suffered from smoke inhalation.

Wills, dismissing any suggestions that organized crime was linked to the blaze, said there is “no question that the fire is an arson. There’s just an abundance of physical evidence at the scene.”

He said investigators have determined the origin of the fire, and it appears that the fire was set in various places throughout the house. “The fire engulfed the house very, very quickly,” he said.

He refused to comment on how the fire was started, but said several firefighters commented that the “heat and the flames were the most intense they’d ever seen in a residential area.”

“We’re focused on identifying suspects and making an arrest,” he said.

Although the Moritas have lived in the United States for a number of years, they retained their Indonesian citizenship and frequently attended functions at the Indonesian Consulate in Los Angeles, Consul Sunten Manurung said.

“As far as I know they are a good family, a nice family,” Manurung said. “I think the Indonesian community is very upset.”

Friends said Lusje Morita, known as Lucy, ran a real estate and mortgage brokerage business out of her home, dealing primarily with Indonesian clients.

With the regional downturn in real estate, the business had been lagging, said Ivonne Tantisari, who works at a San Gabriel escrow company. As a result, Tantisari said, Lusje Morita had also distributed health products for Rexall Showcase International for more than a year.

Tantisari said she did not know if the family--whose home was assessed at nearly $700,000--had been struggling to make ends meet. “I don’t know if there were financial problems,” said Tantisari, who stopped at the fire-gutted house Tuesday.

“She’s a very strong woman,” Tantisari said of Lusje Morita. “She had no complaints.”

“I was shocked,” Tantisari added. “I don’t know why this happened to her.”

David Sugita, president of the Indonesian Business Society, described Lusje Morita, a former board member, as “very active--a very hard-working woman.”

He said he last saw her about three months ago, when they both had lunch and talked about her health product distributorship. “I don’t think she had enemies,” he said.

Jack Rose, assistant superintendent of the San Marino Unified School District, said the three Morita children did not stand out “for any reason.”

Clint attended the fourth grade at Valentine School, Krishna was finishing the eighth grade at Huntington Middle School, and Rama, a sophomore with a learning disability, was enrolled in special education classes at San Marino High School.