SOUTHLAND : 2nd Arrest in Slaying of Composer

The wife of a man arrested in the fatal stabbing of a Hollywood television composer was arrested Thursday night in a Riverside motel room she was sharing with the couple’s two infants, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department said today.

Riverside police officers arrested Michelle Purugganan, 20, at the Arlington Motor Lodge about 10 p.m. in connection with the stabbing death of composer Doug Timm, whose body was found Wednesday at the bottom of a stairwell in his home on Camrose Drive, Detective Russell Kuster said. Purugganan’s husband, Juanito, 29, had been arrested in Riverside only hours before as he drove the dead man’s sports car.

Police said Timm invited the couple into his home after a “chance meeting” on the streets of Hollywood. The suspect couple’s 2 1/2-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son are being cared for by relatives. (Story, Part 2, Page 3.)