Palisades-News-June-3-2015-

Page 20 Palisades News June 3, 2015Murder Saga in the PalisadesBy SUE PASCOEEditorIt was a cool, cloudy May night in the town nestledbetween the Santa Monica Mountains and the PacificOcean. Suddenly, the topic turned to murder.At the Pacific Palisades Historical Society’s recentannual meeting, almost 100 people filed into PiersonPlayhouse to hear the debauchery surrounding ThelmaTodd’s 1935 murder and the notorious serial killingsby former Palisadian Louise Peete.Utilizing historical photos, movie clips and radiobroadcasts, emcees Randy Young and Roger McGrathpresented an informative and entertaining evening.Palisadian Thelma Todd was one of the biggestHollywood stars of the late 1920s and early ‘30s, yet herdeath remains a mystery 80 years later.The 30-year-old actress, nicknamed “Hot Toddy,” wasknown for her comedy roles and had appeared in about 120films, including the Marx Brothers films Monkey Businessand Horse Feathers. She co-starred with Buster Keaton andJimmy Durante in Speak Easily, and was working on a Laureland Hardy film, The Bohemian Girl, at the time of her death.Todd, famous director Roland West and his wife, JewelCarmen, lived in Castellammare, above the building theyoperated: Thelma Todd’s Sidewalk Café on the lowerlevel, and a private club, the Joyas Café, on the secondfloor at Porto Marino Way and Pacific Coast Highway.The 1927 building, which until recently was ownedby Paulist Productions, is largely unchanged; RaymondChandler, who also lived in the Palisades, later describedthe café in his book, Farewell My Lovely.“Thelma loved fast cars and fast men,” Young said,noting that the characters surrounding Todd’s deathwere “straight out of central casting.”She had been married to Pat DiCicco for a short time,but had divorced him. It was unspoken but acknowledgedthat he beat her. (Later, DiCicco married 17-year-oldGloria Vanderbilt, who also accused him of abuse.)After her marriage ended, Todd had an affair with RolandWest, who was still married to actress Jewel Carmen.On the night of her death, Todd, dressed in a mauveAMAZING MUSIC STORE.COMALL AGES, ALL STYLES!Group & Private Lessons • Instrument Rentals & Sales Thelma Todd was one of the top stars in Hollywood whenshe was allegedly murdered in Pacific Palisades in 1935.Photo: Photo: Courtesy of Pacific Palisades Historical Societyand silver evening gown, mink coat and wearing a smallfortune in jewelry, attended a party hosted by Stan andIda Lupino at the Trocadero. West, who did not attendthe party, told Todd she had to be home by 2 a.m.At the party, Todd fought with her ex DiCicco, butlater a chauffeur drove her to her apartment, arrivingaround 3:45 a.m. He left her by the door.The next morning, December 16, 1935, Todd wasfound dead by her maid in the car inside the garageowned by Jewel Carmen and West, which was a blockfrom the restaurant. According to Young, Todd wasinitially found on the passenger side slumped over tothe driver side, but by the time the police arrived, shehad been moved into the driver’s seat.Jack Sauer, who operated a gas station in PacificPalisades, and who worked on Todd’s cars, was calledby West to come to the hillside garage. Young, a localhistorian, recalls Sauer later telling him, “How did sheget a gash on her face?”Another Palisadian at the scene, Ysidro Reyes, thought itwas odd that the police called the funeral home before thecoroner. Reyes also saw Todd and said, “She was hit hard.”One report said Todd had suffered a broken nose,broken ribs and bruises, which would seem to rule outsuicide. At an inquest held two days later, the surgeontestified that there were no marks of violence, butrecommended a further investigation.Subsequently, a grand jury closed the case, determiningthat it was carbon monoxide poisoning thathad killed her.At one point Lucky Luciano, a mutual friend of Benjamin(Bugsy) Siegel, was named as a suspect in themurder because he had supposedly asked Todd to turnthe upstairs into a gambling joint, and she had refused.Young said that all of the testimony before the grandjury was straightforward, except that of West. “He didn’tanswer the questions he was asked,” Young said.According to Young, Todd had a key to her apartment,but speculated that West locked the inside dead bolt,which meant Todd couldn’t get in. An examination ofher shoes and the doors seemed to suggest that she hadkicked the door, trying to get in.“He could have easily knocked her out and put herin the car,” Young said, noting that maybe the car wasstarted up to keep her warm, but had unintended consequenceswhen she died of carbon monoxide.One thing is certain all these years later: no one hasever been found responsible for Todd’s death.Peete, a Palisades resident, was executed in April1947, making her one of only four women to die in theCalifornia gas chamber. Peete’s life was also examined inepisode six, season five (2011-2012) of Deadly Women,“To Love and to Murder.” Over her lifetime, she was ontrial for the death of two men and a woman. Four“suicides” were linked to her, as well as robbery.MICHÉLEBlow Dry Bar + Beauty SupplyBlow Drys $40+1030 Swarthmore Avenue • (310) 454-8022Actual Client