2 Await Arraignment in Torture Death

Two Los Angeles County men are in the Ventura County Jail awaiting arraignment on murder charges in the kidnapping and torture death of a 20-year-old Redondo Beach man.

Spencer Rawlin Brasure of Hawthorne and Billy Lyn Davis of Lawndale are scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in the killing of Anthony Guest, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Holmes. Because of the nature of the crime, the two could be eligible for the death penalty if convicted, Holmes said.

A six-count felony complaint filed against the men Thursday in Ventura County Municipal Court includes allegations that the two kidnapped, tortured and killed Guest after stealing a van from a plumbing company in Torrance.

Brasure, 26, and Davis, 19, were arrested last week in Redondo Beach by Ventura County sheriff’s detectives, said Capt. Larry Robertson, who supervises the major crimes division for the department.

“This one was a particularly hard one,� Robertson said. “It took some excellent police work to solve--not by me but by some investigators in our department.� It took investigators more than four months to put the case together, he said.

Guest’s badly burned body was found Sept. 13 under bushes near a campsite at Hungry Valley State Vehicle Recreation Area in northeast Ventura County by two maintenance workers, said Steve Yamaichi, the chief ranger at the park.

Although the coroner’s office has not determined the cause of Guest’s death, district attorney’s officials decided they had enough evidence to charge the two.

There is no bail set because it is a potential death penalty case.