Murder suspect brought back A man arrested...

Murder suspect brought back

A man arrested on suspicion of the 1983 murder of a prostitute who

was found dead in Laguna Beach was finally brought back to Orange

County for trial, after fighting extradition with every possible

appeal, police said.

“He lost the fight,” said Det. Paul Litchenberg.

John Laurence Whitaker, 57, a registered sex offender, was

arrested in July by Litchenberg and Investigator Lou Gutierrez, a

detective with the Orange County District Atty.’s office, after DNA

evidence taken from the victim’s body matched Whitaker’s DNA.

Litchenberg and Gutierrez flew to Oregon where they obtained

enough information about the killing from Whitaker to issue an arrest

warrant for the December 1983 murder of 26-year-old Patricia Ann

Carpenter, who was found strangled to death on Laguna Canyon Road.

Police do not know if she was killed in Laguna or Los Angeles, or

somewhere between the two cities.

Whitaker did not waive extradition and attempted to appeal the

warrant for his arrest, police said.

Capt. Danell Adams said that Whitaker exercised every option, but

the end result was inevitable.

“The case that we had was solid and well put together, and he just

couldn’t argue with it,” Adams said.

Last week, Litchenberg flew to Oregon and brought Whitaker to the

Laguna Beach Police Department on Jan. 13, police said. Whitaker is

now in the Orange County Jail awaiting trial, police said.