Fellow Club Members May Have Killed Hells Angel, Police Say

CHATSWORTH —  Police are looking into the possibility that a senior Hells Angel nicknamed “Large Larry,” who was killed by a gunshot to the head along with his girlfriend, may have been targeted for execution in connection with his membership in the motorcycle club, perhaps by other members.

Visiting Hells Angels found the 6-feet-2, 450-pound body of Laurence Richard Lajeunesse on Monday morning in his bed in the back of the industrial garage where he lived and ran an auto dismantling business.

The 45-year-old had been shot execution-style in the back of his head, police said. The body of his live-in girlfriend, Tammie Ann Brannigan, 35, was found in an adjoining garage amid model die-cast cars, antique cameras and Mickey Mouse Pez dispensers.

She was also shot in the head, police said.

Lt. Al Michelena, a detective supervisor with the LAPD’s elite Robbery-Homicide Unit, which is handling the case, said investigators have interviewed several Hells Angels members and are looking into the possibility that others in the club may have killed him.

The motorcycle club, one of the nation’s oldest and most notorious, recently gave Lajeunesse a gold belt-buckle--bearing the club symbol of a winged skull--in honor of his 10 years’ membership.

“What this homicide does have is leads,” said Michelena. “They had a lot of acquaintances . . . legitimate and criminal. We have a lot of people to talk to and things to do.”

Burned papers were discovered near Brannigan’s body, and the ashes of other destroyed papers were found in a stove, Michelena said. “Whoever was in there burned some documents that they didn’t want people to see,” said an LAPD source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Michelena declined to describe the documents or their significance.

Although robbery remains a possible motive for the killings, Lajeunesse’s expensive burgundy Harley-Davidson motorcycle and tools were left behind, police said.

Family members and a woman who declined to be named--but said she was Brannigan’s best friend and had identified the dead woman’s body for police--said Brannigan had been severely beaten before she was killed.

“We were told by [Brannigan’s] girlfriend that she couldn’t tell if she was a man or a woman or what,” said Lajeunesse’s sister, Karen Dearborn. “All she could recognize was her hair.”

Lajeunesse’s role in the Hells Angels was still unclear, but the large and diverse collection of clocks, watches, cameras, knives, guns and other items amassed in his garage home in the 9300 block of Oso Avenue has led some detectives to suspect he might have been trading methamphetamine for stolen goods.

Lajeunesse was convicted in 1995 of receiving stolen property and placed on three years’ probation.

Michelena said investigators did not find any drugs at the crime scene.

Michael “Big Mike” Lajeunesse, the dead man’s brother, said Larry Lajeunesse often used drugs, including methamphetamine, but Mike Lajeunesse did not know if his brother was involved in its sale or distribution. Police and federal agents have described the Hells Angels as large-scale producers and traffickers in methamphetamines.

Michael Lajeunesse said the family is setting up a reward fund for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for the deaths.

The Hells Angels will pay for the funerals and will bury the couple Monday at Oakwood Memorial Park in Chatsworth, the family said.

Times staff writer Scott Glover contributed to this story.