Man Leads Police to Bodies of His Ex-Wife and Her New Husband

A man who has been charged with the murder of his former wife and her new husband led Burbank police to a remote area of San Diego County late Tuesday where two bodies were recovered in a shallow grave.

Dumitru Pop, 35, of Hollywood led police to the site in the Cleveland National Forest near Julian at about 8 p.m. Tuesday, Burbank Lt. Van Miller said.

Miller said the bodies have not been positively identified and that the San Diego County coroner’s office will perform autopsies.

Pop was charged Tuesday with the murders of his former wife, Violeta Cirdei, 24, and her new husband, Constantin, 27, who were believed shot to death while they were in their Burbank home, authorities said. He also was charged with burglary and auto theft, Deputy Dist. Atty. James R. Simpson said.

Arraignment was postponed Tuesday afternoon, Miller said, after Pop decided to lead police to the graves.

Pop, a carpenter, was arrested Saturday in Tijuana while driving a car owned by the Cirdei couple, who were reported missing Friday and were presumed dead by police because of blood and other evidence found in their home and car.

Deputy Public Defender Albert Feldman said Pop was taken from the Pasadena municipal courthouse by Burbank police officers just as Feldman attempted to speak to him. The lawyer charged that police were attempting to get Pop to confess to the murders and were preventing him from conferring with an attorney.

Arraignment was rescheduled for 9 a.m. today. Though the hearing will come more than two days after the arrest, the delay was not seen by prosecutors as a violation of Pop’s legal right to an arraignment within 48 hours.

Police said Pop, convicted last year of spousal abuse, had a record of threatening his former wife. Detectives have declined to clearly outline the motive for the alleged double slaying.

Violeta Cirdei and Pop, who had an 18-month-old daughter, were divorced in October, five months after Pop was arrested for investigation of spousal abuse at the Burbank home in the 200 block of South Sunset Canyon Drive, police said.

Pop was later convicted of the charge and placed on probation. Violeta Cirdei also obtained a restraining order to prevent Pop from threatening her, police said.

Violeta and Cirdei, a contractor, were married on Feb. 14, 1988. They lived in the Sunset Canyon home, where Violeta cared for Dr. Elbert Pratt, 94, and his 90-year-old wife.

The Pratts noticed the Cirdei couple missing Friday morning when they were not served breakfast, police said. But the disappearance was not reported to police until the afternoon when a neighbor found their child wandering in the driveway of the home.