Los Angeles Times - 16.11.2019

$2.75DESIGNATED AREAS HIGHER © 2019 WST SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2019 latimes.com

Los Angeles County
prosecutors have filed two
counts of murder against a
man linked to a pair of dec-
ades-old cold cases by con-
necting the suspect through
a genealogy match, a first for
the office, Dist. Atty. Jackie
Lacey said Friday.
Horace Van Vaultz Jr.
was charged with the 1986
killing of Mary Duggan in
Burbank and the 1981 slaying
of Selena Keough in Mont-
clair. He will appear in a
downtown Los Angeles
courtroom Monday.
The victims were both
strangled and sexually as-
saulted, according to inves-
tigators, who have been in
touch with other law en-
forcement agencies about
Vault’s possible links to
other cold cases.
“Thanks to advances in
technology and forensics, we
are now able to virtually
reach back in time and find
those responsible for these
vicious crimes,” Lacey said.
Vaultz was arrested
Thursday after a traffic stop
in Los Angeles, said Bur-
bank Det. Aaron Kay, the
lead investigator on Dug-
gan’s killing. Vaultz does not
currently have an attorney,
prosecutors said.
Lacey declined to detail
the specific method used to
capture Vaultz, citing the
ongoing investigation. But
she likened the process to
the one that cracked open
the Golden State Killer case
last year.
“We are talking about the
commercial DNA databases
that have been built over the
years ... law enforcement ac-
cesses those databases by
uploading DNA material
from the crime and finding a
relative’s match,” she said,
speaking about the process
in general. “From that, that
can point to a suspect. Once
you have a pool of suspects ...
you’re then able to find that
person and get the DNA.”
The use of genealogy
websites and familial DNA

DNA DATA

LEAD TO

ARREST

IN 1980S

SLAYINGS

L.A. County district

attorney’s office uses

genealogy records to

crack two cold cases,

a first for the agency.

By James Queally

HORACE Van Vaultz Jr.
is accused of strangling
two women in the 1980s.

[SeeCold cases,A10]

WASHINGTON — Even

as ousted U.S. Ambassador

to Ukraine Marie Yovano-

vitch warned Friday about

the national security risks of

publicly undermining Amer-

ican diplomats, President

Trump took to Twitter to

discredit her, handing Dem-

ocrats additional ammuni-

tion for their impeachment

case.

Yovanovitch, the latest

career diplomat to testify

publicly in the House im-

peachment inquiry, largely

accomplished what Demo-

crats hoped she would in

their second day of public

hearings. The State Depart-

ment veteran, who was re-

called in May amid a flurry of

unsubstantiated rumors

that she was anti-Trump,

put a sympathetic face on

the investigation as she de-

scribed her confusion and

despair at being abruptly

sidelined.

She said she understood

the president’s right to re-

place an ambassador at any

time, but added, “I do won-

der why it’s necessary to

smear my reputation false-

ly.”

Yovanovitch also warned

that openly criticizing U.S.

officials working in foreign

countries undercuts the na-

tion’s interests and may en-

courage foreign leaders to

attempt to sideline Ameri-

can diplomats who are push-

ing for reforms.

“Shady interests the

world over have learned how

little it takes to remove an

American ambassador who

does not give them what

they want,” she said, refer-

ring to her ouster in May af-

ter what she calls a smear

campaign by some in the

Trump administration. “Af-

ter these events, what for-

eign official, corrupt or not,

could be blamed for wonder-

ing whether the ambassador

represents the president’s

views?”

As she testified, Trump

Trump

derides

envoy

as she

testifies

Schiff pauses to warn

against intimidating

Yovanovitch as she

answers questions on

ouster from Ukraine.

By Sarah D. Wire

[SeeYovanovitch,A7]

SHOOTING VICTIMS MOURNED

Kent NishimuraLos Angeles Times

Saugus High student Haley Stuart hugs family members at a memorial to the two students killed a day

earlier. They were identified as Gracie Anne Muehlberger, 15, and Dominic Blackwell, 14. CALIFORNIA, B

The teenage shooter who

opened fire at Saugus High

School before shooting him-

self in the head died Friday

of his injuries, as investiga-

tors seized unregistered fire-

arms from his home and

tried to determine the origin

of the handgun used in the

deadly attack.

Authorities say Na-

thaniel Berhow carried out

the violence at the Santa

Clarita campus on his 16th

birthday after being

dropped off at school by his

mother. School surveillance

video reviewed by law en-

forcement shows him

pulling a pistol from his

backpack and opening fire

in the quad, killing a 15-year-

old girl and a 14-year-old boy

and wounding three others

in an attack that lasted 16

seconds.

At one point during the

gunfire, the weapon jammed

and the shooter cleared the

firearm before he continued

firing. He appeared to know

how many shots he had fired

and left the final round for

himself, ending the attack

with a gunshot to his head,

Los Angeles County Sheriff

Alex Villanueva said Thurs-

day.

The teen died of that

wound Friday afternoon,

with his mother at the hospi-

tal with him.

Investigators believe the

attack was planned but said

they do not think specific

Unregistered firearms seized

from teenage shooter’s home

The 16-year-old boy

who opened fire

at Saugus High

School dies of his

self-inflicted gunshot.

By Hannah Fry,

Leila Miller,

Richard Winton

and Brittny Mejia

[SeeShooting,A6]

The crisis was over, the dan-

ger had passed, and Saugus

High students were wander-

ing bewildered through a sea

of squad cars and news vans,

trying to wrap their minds

around what had just trans-

pired on the campus quad.

“I never thought this would happen in

Santa Clarita.”That familiar refrain was all

many students could think of to say when a

newscaster stuck a microphone in their

face.

They’d felt safe in the cosseted security of

their close-knit suburban community, the

hometown of so many law enforcement

officers. Now, they were thosekids who’d

lived through a campus shooting. They were

suddenly swathed in vulnerability.

“It doesn’t seem like this is something

that should happen here,” a sophomore

named Adriana told a reporter. She’d heard

the gunshots from her home, as she was

setting off for campus. Hours later, I could

hear the mix of fear and outrage in her voice.

“I’m honestly terrified to go to school.

You never really know if something like this

could happen again.” She didn’t feel pre-

pared for this, she said.

But how on earth do you prepare for the

prospect that one of your classmates — an

ordinary kid, a Boy Scout who played chess,

ran cross-country, had a girlfriend, took AP

classes — would begin the school day by

pulling a gun from his backpack and shoot-

ing into a crowd

SANTA CLARITA residents gather for a prayer service at Grace Baptist Church

on Thursday night after the fatal shooting at nearby Saugus High School.

Luis Sinco Los Angeles Times

Peace of mind on list

of casualties at school

SANDY BANKS

[SeeBanks,A6]

F

irst, there’s the heft: 24.5 pounds.
Then, there’s the size: 1,648 pages.
But, really, it’s the topic of this five-volume book
set that elicits the biggest surprise: the Illinois
Watch Co.
Presidents, wars, social movements — few, if any, have
prompted histories of this depth.
Yet Fredric J. Friedberg devoted a decade of his life to
writing “The Illinois Watch & Its Hamilton Years,” a history
of a defunct company that, odds are, you’ve never heard of
before.
Though not a household name like Rolex, Illinois was
once at the vanguard of a vibrant American watchmaking
industry, crafting Art Deco-styled timepieces that rivaled
the best from Switzerland in both accuracy and artistry.
Friedberg hopes his opus will reinvigorate interest in
Illinois, which has been out of business for nearly 90 years.
And even if it doesn’t, Friedberg could be satisfied knowing
he completed a task that tested him in ways he never imag-
ined when he began the work in 2008.
“My goal was to finish the

COLUMN ONE

History of watch firm makes all those tickers talk

COLLECTORFredric J. Friedberg spent 10 years writing a history of the Illinois

Watch Co. By his own admission, it was an effort driven in part by obsession.

Allen J. SchabenLos Angeles Times

[SeeWatches,A8]

By Daniel Miller

Trump ally

Stone guilty

on all counts

He is convicted on

charges including

witness tampering

and lying to Congress

about his attempts

to contact WikiLeaks

in 2016. NATION, A

Floods threaten

Venice treasures

Police cordon off

St. Mark’s Square as

tidal waters rise again,

peaking at 5 feet above

sea level. WORLD, A

Weather

Sunny and warmer.

L.A. Basin: 84/60. B

Printed with soy inks on

partially recycled paper.

Erik S. LesserEPA/Shutterstock