Suspected Double Murderer Officially Charged
Posted by Daniel Antolin on Dec 29, 2011 - 12:37:01 AM
Brent D. Zubek photos courtesy of LAPD, Facebook, MySpace.
SHERMAN OAKS—On Wednesday, December 28, a former bank robber who ditched his pickup truck in Sherman Oaks
in August while fleeing from police, was formally charged with two counts of capital murder related to the deaths of two individuals with whom he lived in a home located on the
20200 block of Lassen Street in Chatsworth, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Blake with the target crimes division amended an earlier criminal complaint against 43-year-old Brent Darrin Zubek to include the two murder charges with the special circumstance of multiple murders. If found guilty of these charges, Zubek would be eligible for the death penalty, though whether this punishment would be pursued at a later time has yet to be determined. He is being held without bail.
Prosecutors were
withholding the murder charges as the investigation into the deaths of
John David Lee, 40, and Oletta Jean Williams, 28, from multiple gunshot wounds continued. Homicide detectives found their decomposed bodies on August 12 stuffed in trash bins in the backyard of their home. Police believe they had been there for five to six weeks. Zubek was due in San Fernando Superior Court on December 28 to be arraigned on these murder charges and to schedule a preliminary hearing for related charges. An earlier version of the aforementioned criminal complaint allowed for Zubek, who was convicted in 1993 for
committing a series of Los Angeles bank robberies, to be charged with six counts of assault on an
officer with a firearm. He was also charged with one count of
possession of a firearm by a felon and one count of carrying a loaded and
stolen firearm. He personally
discharged the firearm, states the criminal complaint. This is now considered a special allegation tied to the two murder charges.
On August 22, Zubek was arrested
at about 5 a.m. in Encino by LAPD detectives,
booking details indicate. On that date, he was struck in
the lower torso after pulling out a handgun and pointing it toward
police officers on the roof of a residence located on the 4600 block of Libbit
Street near Ventura Boulevard, an LAPD press release states. Neither of the pursuing police officers were injured. Zubek was arrested there and transported to Northridge Hospital in a stretcher, where he was treated and subsequently released. LAPD Major Crimes Divisions detectives were conducting
surveillance of a female friend of Zubek a day earlier on August 21 after 9:30 p.m. to see if she would lead them
to him. Police reportedly received a tip that he might be attending a
party in Encino that night. When the detectives saw him at the
intersection of Noeline Avenue and Ventura Boulevard, Zubek fired a
round from a handgun at them as they attempted to capture him during a
brief foot chase. As a result, they requested backup and set up a perimeter of the area to contain Zubek there.
More than 100 officers, which included LAPD SWAT, Metropolitan K-9 and an air unit, arrived to
assist the detectives in their efforts to bring Zubek into custody,
which occurred several hours later half a mile south from where they initially spotted him after a house-to-house search. A loaded handgun was found on Zubek's person.
Hours earlier, a fire was set at the
Chatsworth home where the bodies of the two individuals Zubek is
suspected of killing were found. They have not yet established if the
fire, which reportedly caused substantial damage to two rooms, is linked
to the murders. Police previously related that Zubek once lived in the home as a
tenant, which property records indicate was sold in a foreclosure auction on July 8.
Zubek was on the run before he was ultimately arrested. On August 14, Zubek left his black 2010 Ford F-150 pickup truck, which
has an Arizona license plate, in the parking lot of Gelson's market
located on 4520 Van Nuys Blvd. in Sherman Oaks. Police found the truck parked there later that afternoon hours after following the vehicle at a normal speed without the siren on. On August 15, an LAPD bulletin indicated that Zubek stole a 2011 silver or
gray Nissan Versa at 12:20 p.m. parked at 14429 Ventura Blvd. on the
east side of the Sherman Oaks Town Center Shopping Center. This is less than half a mile from where he ditched a
pickup truck about 24 hours prior.
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