Mental Exam Ordered for Woman Arrested at NBC

A woman arrested at NBC Studios when security guards found her in possession of two knives near the area where Johnny Carson’s show is taped was ordered by a judge Thursday to undergo psychiatric evaluation.

Krystyna Marenchin, 39, of St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada, was charged with loitering while in possession of a concealed weapon, a misdemeanor.

Burbank police arrested Marenchin about 5 p.m. Wednesday after she was detained by studio security guards who became suspicious after seeing her for the third consecutive day wandering near the line that forms daily for the “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson,” Lt. Gordon Bowers said.

Bowers said the guards, who were concerned by the incident Tuesday at Lorimar Studios in Culver City in which a man crashed a truck through a security gate and took his life, asked Marenchin to leave but she refused.

“She didn’t want to leave the studio until she could talk to Johnny Carson personally,” Sgt. Don Goldberg said. “She was adamant about it. She obviously had some kind of fixation on him.”

Consented to Search

She consented, however, to a search of her backpack. The guards found two bone-handled daggers with blades 5 inches and 11 inches long, police said.

On Thursday, Burbank Municipal Court Judge Alan S. Kalkin ordered Marenchin to undergo psychiatric evaluation to determine if she is mentally competent to face the charge against her, Goldberg said. She was being held in the Burbank City Jail pending her transfer to a hospital for evaluation.