Whittier Business Owner Named As Person Of Interest In Attorney's Murder
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A Whittier business owner has been named as a person of interest in two homicides, one of them the 2009 slaying of prominent attorney Jeffrey Tidus.
Tidus, a 53-year-old civil litigation attorney specializing in business law, was shot in the head outside his home in Rolling Hills Estates on Dec. 7, 2009.
A composite sketch of a black man in his 30s was released by detectives in the case on May 31. On Friday, Los Angeles County Sheriff's detectives named 64-year-old Richard Wall, the owner of a Whittier business called Welded Fixtures, as a second person of interest in the murder of Tidus.
"After many years of a lengthy investigation, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Detectives are getting closer to discovering the circumstances surrounding the execution-style murder," the sheriff's department said in a statement.
Wall is also suspected in the murder of Juan Mendez, who was a Welded Fixtures employee, according to detectives. Mendez was shot and killed at his apartment in Whittier on Feb. 26, 2011.
A man described as 6 feet tall, 170 to 180 pounds and wearing blue jeans and a black coat with a hood was seen fleeing the complex after the shooting that killed Mendez. Wall is described as a white man about 6 feet tall and weighing about 175 pounds.
According to sheriff's detectives, Wall cannot be reached. He suddenly left for Europe less than a few days ago. CBS2 News also confirmed that his Whittier Hills home is also up for sale for a million dollars.
A combined reward of $100,000 has been offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the murder of Tidus.
