USE THIS VERSION : Arrest in Grisly Case After 2 Years : Partner of Slain Man Held in His Contract Murder

Only hours after David Burton found his partner’s bloody body in the Georgia Thread Co.’s garment district warehouse, Burton himself was in a hospital bed.

The shock of the grisly discovery, Burton told authorities, brought on acute chest pains that the 54-year-old businessman said he took as signs of a heart attack.

But two weeks ago, more than two years after Burton found Donald Serra’s throat slit from ear to Adam’s apple, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office charged the seemingly grief-stricken business associate with hiring two teams of hit men to stop Serra, 43, from talking to authorities about an alleged $225,000 insurance fraud.

Considered a Suspect

Despite his apparent distress over the killing, Burton became a suspect in Serra’s death almost immediately, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Steven M. Barshop, who is prosecuting the case.

But it was not until last month that another defendant in the case produced the corroborating evidence that prosecutors needed to file charges, Barshop said.

Burton, who could face the death penalty because he is charged with arranging a contract murder, was “shocked” by his June 21 arrest, said Anthony C. Manzella Jr., his attorney.

After his thread company went out of business, Burton had been working as a management consultant, most recently for a large insurance company in the Midwest, Manzella said. He is now being held without bail at Los Angeles County Jail. Besides the murder charge, Burton is accused of conspiracy. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 25 in Los Angeles Municipal Court.

Also charged with Serra’s murder are Michael J. Benjamin, 44, of Whittier, who was the product manager for Burton’s and Serra’s thread company, and James B. Goodrum, 43, of Maywood, a burly man known as “Bear” who is one of the alleged assassins Benjamin is said to have recruited at a South Gate bar frequented by motorcycle gangs. Trials for Benjamin and Goodrum are scheduled to begin late this month.

Grant Immunity

The district attorney’s office, Barshop said, has agreed to grant immunity to another defendant, Susan Roseli, 31. Like Benjamin and Goodrum, Roseli was arrested two years ago and was held to answer at a preliminary hearing.

Roseli was the second person Benjamin allegedly hired to arrange Serra’s murder, Barshop said, and it was she who produced the new evidence--a photograph and written description of Serra allegedly provided for her by Burton. A woman who knew Serra has told investigators that she was present when Burton took the photograph that Roseli turned over to the district attorney’s office.

Barshop said he does not know why Roseli waited so long before producing the photograph. Her attorney, James A. Goldstein, refused to discuss the case.

In the days that followed Serra’s death, Benjamin, Goodrum and Roseli made statements to police that implicated Burton in the crime. Transcripts of those statements were read into the record at preliminary hearings for the three.

But, Barshop said, the statements of co-conspirators are admissible in court only if the accuser takes the witness stand, and only then if the district attorney’s office can produce independent evidence to support the accusations.

So far, only Roseli has been granted immunity, an action that usually means that a suspect has agreed to testify for the prosecution. Barshop would not discuss negotiations for the testimony of any of the other defendants.

Claims He’s Innocent

Manzella, Burton’s lawyer, said his client is innocent.

“The only evidence the prosecution has that Burton was involved are the statements of people . . . who admit they were involved in Serra’s death,” Manzella said.

“What they are trying to do now is lighten their load by implicating somebody else and the obvious person to implicate is Burton.”

The photograph provided by Roseli corroborates nothing, Manzella said. “The only reason the photograph looks suspicious is again because of the statement of somebody who admits being involved in the death of Serra.”

The events that led to Serra’s death began in February, 1983, Barshop said, when Serra and Burton reported that thieves had stolen $225,000 worth of thread from their company.

Insurance Investigation

An insurance carrier paid off on the loss, Barshop said. But when investigators from the state Department of Insurance began asking questions, the prosecutor said, Serra got nervous.

According to Benjamin’s statement to police, Serra, who was the minority partner, told Burton that he did not want to go to jail for insurance fraud and threatened to cooperate with the state authorities.

Burton then approached Benjamin and told him to make arrangements to have Serra killed, Benjamin later told authorities.

” . . . Dave came to me at my desk and asked me if I knew anybody that could take care of the job,” Benjamin told police. “I told him I would ask around.”

Benjamin went about his task in an unusual way, an attorney involved in the case said.

“He was walking around these biker bar places asking anybody and everybody if they knew someone who would do a killing . . .,” said Steven E. Moyer, Goodrum’s lawyer. “These guys decided he was ripe for a plucking.”

Just Wanted the Money

Goodrum never intended to kill Serra, Moyer said. He wanted only to relieve Benjamin of the $5,000 he was offering to commit the crime.

In her statement to police, Roseli told a similar story.

Goodrum already knew Serra, according to his statement to police, because he had taken a job removing labels from lots of thread, allegedly taken from hijacked trucks, that was later resold as Georgia Thread’s own brand. (Last fall, Burton was acquitted of charges of receiving stolen property. Burton’s attorney, Manzella, said he believes the thread was stolen, but that Serra alone was behind the scheme.)

Less than a week before Serra died, Benjamin, Roseli and a confederate lured him to a house in La Puente with a promise of sex with two Alaskan women who “wanted to party.” Roseli told police that she ordered her friend to fire a bullet over Serra’s head. She was attempting to squeeze more money from Benjamin and Burton, she said, by convincing them that she was trying to carry out her assignment.

Death finally caught up with Serra on March 23, 1983, the day after Burton paid a premium on a business insurance policy on Serra’s life, Barshop said.

Goodrum went to the garment district warehouse at 1106 E. Pico Blvd., he told police, at one point thinking about warning Serra of the murder plot. Instead, Goodrum said, he and Serra began to argue. Serra pulled a knife, Goodrum said, and during a struggle, “the knife nicked him on the throat.”

When Goodrum saw more blood, he said he panicked, took Serra’s wallet, and left.

Goodrum did not know, Barshop said, that while he was struggling with Serra inside the warehouse, Roseli and a companion were outside, waiting for Serra to walk out of the building.