Report: Murdered Model Was Dialing 911 When Killer Hung Up The Phone
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Detectives probing the murder of model-actress Juliana Redding in 2008 determined she was dialing 911 when the killer grabbed the phone and hung it up.
That report appeared Sunday morning in the Los Angeles Times.
The report went on to relate details of the case laid out against suspect Kelly Soo Park who was arrested in June 2010 and accused of murdering the 21-year-old, as well as trying to cover up the crime by attempting to blow up the victim's apartment.
Park, 45, has pleaded not guilty and is out on bail awaiting trial.
Park worked for Dr. Munir Uwaydah, a former boyfriend of the victim's, as his real estate agent.
In previous court hearings, Deputy Dist. Attorney Alan Jackson said Uwaydah was a person of "extreme" interest in the case. He said the doctor was set to open a pharmaceutical business with the victim's father but that the father backed out of the business venture at the eleventh hour.
The prosecutor also said the doctor made a six-figure payment to Park just before the killing and another to her family just after her arrest.
According to the Times report, Uwaydah, through his attorney denied any wrong-doing. He has not been charged in the case.
Jackson says Uwaydah, a Lebanese national, fled the US on the day Park was arrested.
Criminalists testified in front of the grand jury that Park's DNA was found on the victim's skin and clothes, her cellphone, a knob on a kitchen stove and a drop of blood found on a plate. A fingerprint expert also testified that her prints were found in the apartment.
A detective testified that before entering the victim's apartment -- her mother had called for a welfare check after not hearing from her -- he smelled gas.
Inside, according to the Times report, the police and fire department found a candle burning on the coffee table and one of the burners on the victim's stove had been turned up with the pilot light turned off.
Prosecutors told the jury that the person who killed Redding was trying to blow up the apartment in an attempt to destroy evidence.
