Brother Pushed Him Over Cliff After Killing Mother, Boy Says

An 8-year-old boy testified Monday that his teen-age half brother blindfolded and handcuffed him in the back seat of a car before setting the vehicle afire and pushing it off a Malibu cliff in the early morning of Oct. 14.

The boy, Rory Rizk of Woodland Hills, said that, after the car stopped, he struggled to free his hands, removed the blindfold and climbed into the front seat of the burning car “and saw my mom in the driver’s seat. But she was already dead.”

A motorist who was driving along Malibu Canyon Road about two miles north of Pacific Coast Highway saw the flames and helped the boy.

Rory’s half brother, Torran Lee Meier, 17, is accused of the strangulation murder of their mother, Shirley A. Rizk, 34, and the attempted murder of Rory.

Meier and his friends, Richard Allan Parker, 23, of Antelope Valley and Matthew Adam Jay, 18, of Woodland Hills are charged with murder, attempted murder and two counts of conspiracy.

Spunky Blond’s Testimony

Rory’s testimony came at a preliminary hearing for the three in Van Nuys Municipal Court. The spunky blond boy, who is recovering from the chicken pox, testified matter-of-factly that his brother first tried to feed him a sandwich which police later said was laced with poison, then sent him over the cliff.

Although Rory showed little emotion, Meier occasionally wiped tears from his eyes during the testimony.

Rory said he awoke on Oct. 13 and went to his brother’s room, where he saw his mother “on the floor screaming” while Meier and his two friends stood over her.

When he asked his brother “what all the screaming was about,” Meier ushered him from the room and explained that his friends were wrestling and that the shouts were coming from a television program, Rory testified.

Rory said he later wandered out to the garage of their Canoga Park home and saw his mother’s feet protruding from the trunk of the car.

The boy said he complained that he wasn’t feeling well and his brother offered him a peanut butter sandwich and malt. Meier told him he had added some “wheat stuff” that one of his friends used for dieting, Rory said. The “wheat stuff” was rat poison, police said.

Rory testified that he took one bite of the sandwich and a few sips of the drink but decided that it tasted “sort of yucky” and pushed it aside.

His brother implored him to eat at least half of the sandwich so that he would not hurt his friend’s feelings, Rory said, but he refused to take another bite.

‘Yucky Face’

“I tried not to make a yucky face,” Rory testified. “I tried not to act like I didn’t like it.”

Sheriff’s Sgt. Rene Laporte, who interviewed Parker and Meier after their arrests, testified Monday that Meier told authorities he had thought of killing his mother for a year. Laporte said Meier complained that he had been mistreated by his mother for years, “physically, mentally and emotionally.”

Laporte testified that, when Meier went to work at a service station on the afternoon of Oct. 13, he decided he would kill his mother that night, devised a rope noose and recruited the help of his friends.

The three met at a Canoga Park pizza parlor and decided to strangle Rizk and push her burning car over the cliff, hoping that it would look like a car accident, Laporte said.

Meier let his friends into the house through his bedroom window, then called to his mother, who was watching television in another room, Laporte said.

When she came in, they wrestled her to the floor and took turns strangling her, Laporte said. During the struggle, Rory came into the room and the three decided to kill him because he was a witness, Laporte said.

When the poisoning attempt failed, Meier asked Rory if he wanted to go for a ride with Parker, Laporte testified. They took the mother’s car, and Jay followed in another car, Laporte said. At the canyon, they poured gasoline on the car, set it afire and pushed it over the cliff, he said.

Rory gave police a description of Meier and Parker and the brother’s silver Camaro. They were arrested heading back to the house, police said. Jay was arrested two days later at El Camino High School in Woodland Hills, where he was a student.

Rory is living with his father in Woodland Hills, Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Diamond said.

The preliminary hearing is expected to conclude today, at which time Judge James M. Coleman will decide whether the prosecution has presented enough evidence to order the defendants to stand trial. They are being held without bail.