Aug 17, 2006 4:26 pm US/Pacific
'Black Widows' Make Their Initial Court Appearance
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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Helen Louise Golay, 75, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 73, are charged with murder for the hit-and-run deaths of two homeless men. The women made their first court appearance Thursday.
CBS
Two women charged with murder for the hit-and-run deaths of two homeless men -- allegedly to cash in on life insurance policies they took out on them -- made their initial court appearance Thursday.
Helen Louise Golay, 75, of Santa Monica, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 73, agreed to waive their right to a speedy arraignment until Aug. 29, after Golay hires an attorney.
Golay will appear Aug. 28 to determine whether she has found an attorney.
Meanwhile, Superior Court Commissioner James Bianco ordered the women to be continued to be held without bail.
They are accused of murder for the Nov. 8, 1999, death of 73-year-old Paul Vados, who was run over in an alley in the 300 block of North La Brea Avenue in Hollywood, and the June 21, 2005, death of 50-year-old Kenneth McDavid, killed in an alley in the 1200 block of Westwood Boulevard in Westwood.
The pair had befriended the two men and taken out about $2 million in life insurance policies on them.
Defense attorney Roger Jon Diamond -- who represented Golay in a federal insurance fraud case that was dropped so the state's murder case could go forward -- said he was personally convinced that Golay and Rutterschmidt had been "falsely charged with the very serious crime of murder" and would be exonerated.
The murder case against the two women includes the special circumstance allegations of murder for financial gain and multiple murder, which could make them eligible for the death penalty.
Prosecutors allege the victims were "rolled over slowly," while they were still alive, although they aren't sure whether the victims were conscious when they died.
Evidence of drugs was found in McDavid's system.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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