2 Held in Killing of Teen Who Was Shot While Trying to Sell His Car

Two men were booked Friday on suspicion of murdering a North Hollywood man found slain in September after a pair posing as prospective customers joined him for a test drive of the sports car he was selling.

Police had been searching for the red, 1973 Datsun 240-Z after the body of Richard Ronald Davis, 19, was found dumped Sept. 17 in the 6600 block of Teesdale Avenue, a few blocks from his home. Detectives said Davis had been shot several times and apparently had crawled some distance down the block in search for help before dying of his wounds.

Officers said they stopped Kent Derek Parish, 21, in West Los Angeles on Thursday night for a routine traffic violation. They said they became suspicious when they noticed that the 1973 240-Z he was driving had recently been repainted gray and “things didn’t look quite right.”

“Then they noticed that the license plate and the vehicle identification number didn’t belong to the vehicle,” Detective Mike Coffee of the Los Angeles Police Department’s North Hollywood Division said Friday. “It was Davis’ car.”

Parish was placed under arrest, and Coffee said that as a result of further investigation, Ronald Lewis Fort, 20, was arrested a short time later at the Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, where he was visiting his wife, who had recently undergone surgery.

The pistol believed used in the homicide was recovered at Parish’s home, police said.

Parish and Fort were being held without bail Friday at the North Hollywood jail.