D.A. Files Charges on Suspect in Murders of Valley Family in 1982

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, citing unspecified new evidence, Friday filed four murder charges against Harvey Rader, a one-time Reseda auto dealer who has been the target of a six-year investigation into the 1982 killings of a San Fernando Valley family.

The charges against Rader were filed with some sense of urgency because he faces a deportation hearing in Arizona on Sept. 7, when he could be returned to his native England, thus escaping prosecution here. But the murder charges ensure that he cannot leave the country, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Lonnie A. Felker.

Rader currently is under federal custody in Phoenix. Until Aug. 5, he was serving a federal prison term in Phoenix for attempting to get a U.S. passport under a false name. Upon his release, after serving a third of his three-year sentence, Rader was immediately taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Naturalization officials, pending the deportation hearing.

Rader, now 46, has long been the major suspect in the October, 1982, murders of Northridge residents Sol Salomon, his wife, Elaine, and their two children, Michalle, 15, and Mitchell, 9. Their bodies were never found, and Rader has steadfastly proclaimed his innocence.

And until now, Rader has never been charged in the convoluted case--because of insufficient evidence, according to Felker. “I can’t tell you this is the best or strongest case in the world,” the prosecutor said. “But I just have to take a shot at it. I owe it to the families. I owe it to the victims. And I owe it to justice.”

Authorities said Rader is still a suspect in the disappearance of three other people, crimes that are also believed to stem from business disputes.

The investigation took an unusual turn last month when the Los Angeles Police Department took the rare action of asking the state attorney general’s office to prosecute Rader for the murders.

But since then, according to Felker, the district attorney’s office, the state attorney general’s office and the LAPD have “pooled our resources” and have come up with fresh evidence, including new witnesses, to justify the filing of murder charges. He refused to elaborate.

Because of the possibility of an imminent deportation, Felker said, “we stepped up everything.”

Sol Salomon had a business relationship with Rader, apparently as an investor, according to Felker. The prosecutor also said Friday that Rader is a suspect in the 1982 disappearance of Peter and Joan Davis, British subjects then living in Granada Hills. Peter Davis, a used car and antique dealer, also was believed to have been a Rader business associate.

In addition, Felker said, Rader is a prime suspect in the 1982 disappearance of Ron Adeeb of Burbank.

Rader was arrested in 1983 in the Salomon case after Rader’s cousin, Ashley Paulle, told authorities that Rader killed the Salomon family and that he had been Rader’s accomplice. Paulle reportedly told police that Rader shot Sol Salomon, beat to death Elaine, killed Mitchell with a baseball bat and strangled Michalle.

Implicates Rader

Paulle also implicated Rader in the Davis’ disappearance. The couple’s bodies also have never been found.

The district attorney’s office initially gave Paulle immunity from prosecution in return for his testimony against Rader in the Salomon case. But it later revoked that promise and sought to prosecute Paulle.

But courts here threw out the case against Paulle, ruling that the district attorney had improperly revoked the immunity promise.