The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to review the case of a Burbank man convicted of the 1992 murder of a Northridge model, whose remains were found in the Angeles National Forest. David Rademaker had asked the state's highest court to review the case after a state appellate panel rejected his claim that there was insufficient evidence to prove Kimberly Pandelios' killing occurred during a kidnapping.
Rademaker is serving a life prison term without the possibility of parole for his February 2006 first-degree murder conviction for drowning Pandelios in a creek in February 1992.
The 21-year-old victim, who was married and the mother of a 13-month old son, had left home to meet a man for a photo shoot.
Her car was spotted that night on a dirt shoulder north of the Monte Cristo campground along Angeles Forest Highway, and it was found burning early the next morning.
Pandelios' skull and other remains were discovered about a year later in an isolated, heavily wooded area not far from the campground.
Rademaker was indicted in April 2004 for the murder after an informant came forward with new evidence.
A young woman with whom he had a sexual relationship from 1993 to 1995 testified that Rademaker told her he had raped and murdered a model in a stream when she resisted his advances.
Prosecutors said Rademaker lured Pandelios to the forest on the pretext of doing a photo shoot, while the defense contended during the trial that she was likely killed by menacing-looking "biker types."
Pandelios' disappearance was eerily similar to the Nov. 15, 1995, disappearance of model and former Los Angeles Raiders cheerleader Linda Sobek.
Sobek's remains were found eight days later when photographer Charles Rathbun led investigators to a secluded spot in the Angeles National Forest, where her corpse was unearthed from a shallow grave.
Rathbun was convicted a year later of first-degree murder and sexual assault for Sobek's slaying. Like Rademaker, Rathbun was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. |
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