Police Release Details in Slaying of Elderly Couple

The killer or killers of an elderly couple who were stabbed and slashed to death in their West Hills home last month may have driven the victims’ car 50 miles away, then returned to set the house on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence, police said Thursday.

Although Los Angeles police detectives said they have no suspects or eyewitnesses, they believe robbery was the motive for the slayings of William and Bertha Lasky.

Police on Thursday released new details in the month-old investigation.

The Laskys--William, 76, and Bertha, 73--were killed in the late afternoon or early evening of Feb. 4, not early the morning of Feb. 5, as previously thought. The killer or killers entered the Lasky home, killed the couple, then methodically went through the house looking for valuables, detectives said.

The attacker or attackers then took the couple’s 1995 Buick Regal, driving it as far as 50 miles away before returning to the house and setting it afire early Monday morning, authorities said.

Detectives said they were able to deduce that the Laskys’ Buick was driven after the killings because of a 100-mile discrepancy on the car’s odometer compared with a recent auto-service record.

Det. David Lambkin of LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division said that behavior “was risky, but they wanted to set the fire to destroy evidence.”

If the scenario proves true, it was not entirely successful because the Lasky home had an alarm that alerted firefighters, who arrived quickly and doused the flames before the entire house and bodies were charred beyond recognition.

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Today the Los Angeles City Council is expected to approve a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer or killers, Councilwoman Laura Chick said Thursday at a news conference at the victims’ Pomelo Drive home.

“We will hunt you down and we will not give up until we’ve found you and bring you to justice,” said Chick as she stood before the Laskys’ family and friends. “The murders of William and Bertha Lasky were senseless. The monsters were cold and calculating. They took the lives of two people, and for what?”

Police said items missing from the Lasky home include a Canon AE-1 camera and a yellow gold chain with two round-cut diamonds.

Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at (213) 485-2505.