Samuel Eliezer Herr
Juri 'Julie' Kibuishi
Daniel Patrick Wozniak
Prosecutors to seek death penalty for actor accused in double slaying
SANTA ANA – County prosecutors announced Thursday that they will seek the death penalty against a 26-year-old Costa Mesa man accused of slaying and dismembering an Army veteran and then killing the man's friend to throw police off his trail.
Daniel Wozniak, an actor who starred in the recent production of "Nine" at Hunger Artists Theatre Company in Fullerton, is charged in the recent killings of Samuel Eliezer Herr, 26, of Costa Mesa and Juri "Julie" Kibuishi, 23, of Irvine.
Wozniak allegedly shot and killed Herr on May 21 at a theatre on the Los Alamitos Joint Training Base. A day later, Wozniak cut off Herr's head, left arm, and right hand, and dispersed the body parts in the theatre and at El Dorado Park in Long Beach, prosecutors said.
On May 22, Wozniak lured Kibuishi to Herr's apartment by text messaging her from Herr's phone, killed her by shooting her twice in the head, and then fled, authorities said. Wozniak removed some of Kibushi's clothing to make it look like she had been sexually assaulted, prosecutors said. Police, finding Kibuishi dead and Herr missing, initially suspected Herr had killed her.
Police found that somebody was using Herr's ATM card to make withdrawals in Long Beach. That led them to a 17-year-old boy, who told police he was making the withdrawals for Wozniak.
District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said Wozniak had no regard whatsoever for human life, calling him callous and heartless. "He's an actor that considers himself to be a star and all other people to be living props in his play," Rackauckas said.
Rackauckas also called Wozniak a "greedy groom" who was broke and wanted to steal money for his wedding.
Wozniak was arrested at his bachelor's party at Tsunami restaurant Huntington Beach on May 27 – a day before he was scheduled to get married in Long Beach, prosecutors said.
On Thursday, Herr is scheduled to be buried during a private military funeral. His father, Steven Herr, said he supported the death penalty for Wozniak.
"I'm behind it 100 percent,'' he said. "This is what I want."
Herr served in the Army from 2006 to 2009, including a 15-month tour of duty in Afghanistan, according to Herr's mother, who declined to give her name.
Herr, who was her only child, was engaged to be married and was a student at Orange Coast College, she said. He wanted to return to the Army one day, she said.
Herr's colleagues in Afghanistan just had a memorial service for her son, she said.
"He was a good-hearted man, sometimes too naive,'' she said, her voice faltering. "He was safer in Afghanistan than he was here."
Authorities Wozniak's motive was money: Wozniak got the 17-year-old boy to use Herr's ATM card to get about $2,000, they said.
Wozniak had "a spotty employment record," said Sgt. Ed Everett of the Costa Mesa Police Department. He was involved with "some sort of promotions business with his fiancee's brother, but they weren't making any money," Everett said.
His relationship with his parents had been strained for several months due to his relationship with Rachel Buffett, his fiancee, Everett said.
After Herr was killed, somebody continued to use his MySpace and Skype accounts. Everett noticed on May 27 that somebody had logged into Herr's MySpace account that day.
After Kibuishi's boyfriend, Mark Johnson, got the awful news, he saw somebody using Herr's Skype account. At the time, police suspected Herr had murdered her.
"I do not know for sure who it was," Johnson wrote to a reporter. "I thought it was Sam and just sent him a message saying that he can't run forever, and got a reply stating yes he can, and by the way this isn't Sam, and then the person signed off."
Johnson is a Marine combat engineer stationed in Okinawa; he met Kibuishi online. They'd talk on Skype "for hours on end," he said.
He got to know Herr through his girlfriend. Herr even invited Johnson to stay at his place during a visit planned for this summer.
"I was one of the last ones to talk to Julie before all this happened," Johnson wrote. "She was over at her brothers house and they had dinner and she talked to me through skype afterward, and told me that she had gotten a text message from Sam and that she was gonna stop by his place for a bit before returning home, I had gotten messages from her family her on Facebook the next morning asking if i knew where she was, and that's when i started to get worried."
Johnson "had no idea" who Wozniak was until the arrest.
Wozniak is charged with two felony counts of special circumstances murder. The special circumstance sentencing enhancements include multiple murders, murder for financial gain, and the personal discharge of a firearm causing death, prosecutors said.
His arraignment is scheduled for June 25.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/herr-252795-wozniak-police.html
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