Costa Mesa Actor Sentenced To Death For Double Murder
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Daniel Patrick Wozniak was formally sentenced to death on Friday for using a firearm to murder his neighbor for financial gain and also murdering the victim's friend in an effort to derail the investigation by framing the first victim.
Wozniak, a 32-year-old from Costa Mesa, was found guilty of two counts of special circumstances murder on December 16th of 2015.
Prior to May 21, 2010, Wozniak plotted the murder of his neighbor, 26-year-old Samuel Herr, who lived in the same apartment complex with the intention of stealing the victim's substantial savings.
CMPD detectives discovered 26-year-old Samuel Herr's body on May 27, 2010, at the base. A search for Herr's dismembered body parts at El Dorado Park Nature Center was conducted by CMPD with assistance from the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), search and rescue personnel from Orange, Los Angeles, and Ventura Counties, and investigators from the Los Angeles Coroner's Office (LACO).
The victim's head and parts of his left arm, which were decomposed and scavenged by animals, were found over the next two days.
Herr and the other victim, Juri "Julie" Kibuishi were both students at Orange Coast College and Herr was a military veteran.
The victim's family addressed Wozniak in court after the sentence.
(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)