Killer May Have Driven Victims’ Car

The killers of an elderly couple who were stabbed and slashed to death in their West Hills home in February may have driven the victims’ car 50 miles and returned in it to set the house on fire and destroy evidence, police said Thursday.

Although Los Angeles Police Department detectives said they have no suspects or eyewitnesses, they believe robbery was the motive for the killings of William and Bertha Lasky.

Police on Thursday released some new details in the month-old investigation.

William Lasky, 76, retired from a cable company, and Bertha Lasky, 73, a docent at the Getty Center, were killed in the late afternoon or early evening of Feb. 4, not early the morning of Feb. 5, as previously thought.

The robber or robbers entered the Lasky home, killed the couple, then methodically went through the house looking for valuables, detectives said.

They then took the couple’s 1995 Buick Regal, drove as far as 50 miles, then returned to the home to set it afire early the following morning, authorities said.

Detectives said they were able to deduce that the Laskys’ Buick had been driven after the killings because of a 100-mile discrepancy on the car’s odometer when it was compared with a recent auto service record.

Police Det. David Lambkin said the killers’ return “was risky, but they wanted to set the fire to destroy evidence.�

If that scenario proves true, the attempt was not entirely successful, because the Lasky home had an alarm that alerted firefighters, who arrived quickly and doused the flames before the entire house was burned and the bodies charred beyond recognition.

Today the Los Angeles City Council is expected to approve a $25,000 reward for information leading to the killers’ arrest and conviction, Councilwoman Laura Chick said.

“We will hunt you down, and we will not give up until we’ve found you and bring you to justice,� Chick said at a news conference at the victims’ home on Pomelo Drive attended by family and friends.

Police said items missing from the Lasky home include an AE-1 Canon camera and a yellow gold chain with two round diamonds.

Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at (213) 485-2505.