YORBA LINDA, Cali. — Christopher Buono, 20, the grandson of "Hillside Strangler" Angelo Buono, Jr., is dead.  According to police reports, Buono shot his grandmother, Mary Castillo, 67, multiple times before turning the gun on himself.  Castillo lived briefly after the shooting and was able to call 911; however, she died before emergency personnel could arrive at the scene.  Police have not yet commented on a motive in the murder-suicide.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The murder trial for Benjamin Watta, 61, has been delayed.  Defense attorneys for Watta claim their client is innocent in the 1980 rape and murder of a Seal Beach woman.  According to Watta's attorneys, Philip Zalewski and Dan Cook, Texas serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, who previously confessed to the murder, is responsible for the crime.  Prosecutors denounce that theory, claiming DNA evidence irrefutably links Watta to the murder.  The defense now wants to analyze a blood sample, which was extracted from Lucas in 1983 and has been kept in a freezer in a Texas forensics laboratory.  Watta's trial has now been rescheduled for July in order to give the defense team adequate time to have the tests conducted.  Henry Lee Lucas died in 2001, while serving a life sentence for multiple counts of murder.

Contact  David Lohr at           crimewriter74@hughes.net