A former businessman has been charged and extradited in connection to the execution-style killings of an attorney in Rolling Hills Estates in 2009 and an ex-employee in Whittier in 2011, according to authorities.
Richard Wall Sr., 73, was charged with two counts each of murder and conspiracy to commit murder with special circumstance allegations of multiple murders, lying in wait and murder for financial gain, according to a Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office news release.
Wall is also a suspect of a third killing in Las Vegas. He was booked into the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles County on Friday, according to inmate records.
“When Richard Wall Senior lost lawsuits, instead of appealing the verdicts, he allegedly decided to kill those who opposed him in court,” said Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman in the release. “These were vicious and callous murders that we believe came at the behest of Mr. Wall who thought killing two people would end his legal problems. Such allegedly ruthless decision-making has landed Mr. Wall in far worse shape now.”
Wall appeared in court Monday and is scheduled to be arraigned July 1, according to officials.
Wall’s alleged victims included attorney Jeffrey Tidus, 53, who won a $1.7 million settlement against a close friend of Wall in 2007. Wall allegedly hired a co-conspirator to kill Tidus in 2009 outside of his home, according to the criminal complaint.
Prosecutors believe another victim was Juan Mendez, 35, who worked for Wall and was awarded $300,000 in a January 2011 lawsuit alleging that he wasn’t paid overtime for his work.
Wall allegedly hired a co-conspirator to kill Mendez in February 2011, according to the release. The co-conspirator shot and killed Mendez outside his Whittier apartment in front of his children, prosecutors say.
Mendez’s lawsuit was dismissed in March 2011 before it was finalized.
Wall was extradited from Montenegro, where he had fled to and lived during the investigation, according to authorities. He faces life in prison if convicted.
Wall is also being investigated for a third killing in Vegas a few years earlier but hasn’t been charged.
On May 20, 2008, a relative found the body of David James “DJ” Vargas inside his home a little more than a mile from the Las Vegas Strip. He may have been dead for one or two days, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Det. Clifford Mogg said.
Vargas, 53, was self-employed. According to Mogg, he had been trying to start an escort and limo service and owed Wall at least $100,000. The two men had a falling out over the debt, Mogg said, adding that there were similarities between Vargas’ death and the two that followed.
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