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2nd Arrest Made In Fatal Beating Of Elderly Man At Metro Station

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Authorities said a second woman was arrested Wednesday in the beating death of a 65-year-old man at a Metro Blue Line station in Willowbrook

Virginia Butler, 23, was arrested at her Los Angeles home at 9 a.m.

Officials said she and a friend fatally beat John Whitmore on June 13. Whitmore died from his injuries a week later, authorities said.

Butler is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Compton Superior Court on a murder charge.

Tracy Gomez, 24, is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Compton Superior Court also on a murder charge. Authorities said Gomez was arrested at 6:45 p.m. Sunday in Hawthorne.

Whitmore was waiting for a train when two women started arguing with him, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Kim Manatt said.

The women pummeled Whitmore with punches and kicks until he collapsed.

Whitmore, a painter and sculptor, suffered blunt-force trauma to the head and was declared dead at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood.

"It was a vicious crime, and it obviously took awhile," Whitmore's sister, Gwendolyn Whitmore Aldridge, "It wasn't a hit and a fall."

Last month, a $10,000 reward was offered for information leading to the convictions of the suspects.

RELATED STORIES:

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$10K Reward Offered For 2 Women Wanted In Fatal Beating Of Man, 65


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