WEST HOLLYWOOD/STUDIO CITY—A woman at the center of a murder-for-hire plot to eliminate her competition pleaded not guilty to her alleged crime on Wednesday, March 19.

 

Dawn DaLuise, a skin care specialist who owned the Skin Refinery Beauty shop in West Hollywood, pleaded not guilty to one count of solicitation of murder, according to Ricardo Santiago of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.  Mr. Santiago also told Canyon News that DaLuise has a preliminary hearing setting scheduled for April 17. 

 

DaLuise, 55, was accused of hiring someone to kill a rival skin care specialist who set up shop in the same shopping complex as her business in 2013.  She was arrested by L.A. County Sheriff’s deputies on March 5 after the department’s Fraud & Cyber Crimes Bureau received information regarding a cyber stalking case on March 4.

 

She has been in custody since her arrest, and she is being held on a bail of $1,000,000 at the Century Regional Detention Facility.

 

Intersecting the case is 28-year-old Edward Feinstein, who, according to a news release from the Sheriff’s Department, was another rival of DaLuise who passed himself as friend of hers.

 

Feinstein was accused of creating and passing out dozens of sexually explicit flyers that contained a photo of DaLuise back in July 2013.  He also posted advertisements on Cragislist pretending to be DaLuise that solicited men to act out rape fantasies on her.  These online ads did include her home address, phone number and more photos of DaLuise.

 

In turn, DaLuise believed the ads were made by the rival she is now accused of trying to kill. During this time, she began her efforts to find someone that would commit the murder on her behalf, as she believed that her and her daughters’ safety was at risk.

 

Investigators found evidence that linked Feinstein to the ads, flyers, mass emails and photos that he used to allegedly make DaLuise feel unsafe.  Sheriff’s deputies executed a search warrant at Feintein‘s home on March 10, but discovered that he had moved out of the home the week before.

 

A new search warrant was executed at his Studio City home on March 12, where he was found, arrested and booked for stalking at the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station.

 

Feinstein was held on a bail of $150,000, but he posted bond and was released on March 12.  Mr. Santiago told Canyon News that though Feinstein has a court appearance for May 14, there have been no charges filed against him as of yet.