‘America’s Most Wanted’ to Air Piece on Slaying of Laguna Shop Owner : Media: A Tustin surveillance camera tape of the gunman will be shown. The episode is scheduled to be broadcasted March 18.

LAGUNA BEACH —  The ongoing search for the man believed to have committed a string of robberies and killed an ice cream shop owner here last month will be featured March 18 on “America’s Most Wanted,” the television show’s West Coast producer said Friday.

The segment will include videotape of the suspect that was filmed by a surveillance camera during the holdup of a Baskin-Robbins in Tustin--one of three Orange County robberies that police say immediately preceded the Laguna Beach murder.

Simindokht Roshdieh was killed at the downtown Laguna Beach ice cream store Feb. 20 during what police say was a botched robbery. Her husband, Firooz, who was working alongside her that night, was also shot. He is recovering from his injuries.

The segment--part of a one-hour show that will highlight six or seven unsolved California crimes--will include interviews with some of the robbery victims, producer Tony Zanelotti said.

“They tell about their episodes with the robber at gunpoint,” he said.

While the grieving Roshdieh family declined to speak before cameras, Zanelotti said Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr. will help tell their tale.

Police say there is an 80% chance that the Orange County crimes--which also included the robbery of a Conroy’s Flowers and a Blockbuster Music store in Costa Mesa--were committed by the same man who robbed three Conroy’s Flowers in Los Angeles County, one on Jan. 24 and two on Feb. 7.

The bandit in the Redondo Beach and Hawthorne robberies was also photographed by a surveillance camera and bears a striking resemblance to the man being sought by Laguna police, officials said. Zanelotti said the program will also air that videotape.

While local police have received more than 250 tips from people who think they may have information related to the crimes, police say they have no firm leads and are eager to have the crime exposed on national television.

“We’re certainly hoping this broadcast will help,” Purcell said. The program will air at 9 p.m. March 18.

“America’s Most Wanted” has aired 356 episodes, and 353 of the fugitives featured have been apprehended, publicist Van Allen said. “Almost one per show,” she said.

“We’ve had instances where we’ve aired it, and while we’re airing the show the person’s apprehended,” she said. “And we’ve also had instances where a year later someone is caught as a result of the show.”

On Tuesday, a former Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy wanted on suspicion of murder in Orange County, who had been featured on the program, was apprehended. However, Van Allen said Stephen Moreland Redd was not captured as a result of being on the show.

Filming of the Orange County crimes began last week.

The gunman is described as a light-skinned Latino, 5-foot-7, 19 to 23 years old, with bushy eyebrows. He has an teardrop tattoo under his left eye and Old English-style tattoos on the sides and back of his neck, police said.

In addition to interviewing witnesses, filmmakers will also show volunteers working in the Laguna Beach Baskin-Robbins shop, which the community reopened for the Roshdiehs on March 3, the day after Simindokht was buried.

Residents here were stunned by the crime and have poured into the ice cream store, at times giving hundreds of dollars for a cone as a show of support for the victims, said Jan Jurcisin, office manager for the Chamber of Commerce, which organized the reopening.

“A man came in and got three ice cream cones and gave us $500,” she said. “Unbelievable, huh?”