Russ Charged With Killing Wife in 1987

Former Leucadia entrepreneur Charles Russ, who disappeared for two years shortly after his wife’s mysterious death, was charged Friday with her murder.

Russ, 39, pleaded not guilty in San Diego Municipal Court to two charges of grand theft, two charges of forgery and the murder count, Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Pettine said.

Russ was being held Friday in County Jail on $3-million bail, set by Municipal Judge Allan J. Preckel.

Preckel set a bail review hearing for next Friday and a preliminary hearing for Dec. 1. He also granted Russ’ request for a court-appointed attorney.

Russ was returned to San Diego on Thursday night from Florida, where he had been arrested in August, and was immediately questioned by homicide detectives in connection with the slaying of his 33-year-old artist and dancer wife, Pamela, police said.

Pamela Russ’ badly bruised body was found Feb. 1, 1987, along an isolated stretch of the coast highway near Torrey Pines State Reserve. She had been beaten, then run over by her own car, a cream-colored Mercedes-Benz, as she tried to flee, police said.

Pettine declined Friday to discuss whether police and prosecutors learned anything new Thursday when Russ was returned to San Diego.

“I can’t discuss the merits of the case or the evidence we plan to present,” Pettine said. “We’ll put our case on in court.”

The four counts of theft and forgery relate to charges that Russ bilked his mother-in-law, Ginger Allen of Encinitas, out of $78,000, her retirement nest egg, during 1985 and 1986, Pettine said.

Prosecutors allege Russ persuaded Allen to take out a $70,000 second mortgage on her San Diego home, then to liquidate an $8,000 IRA account and give him the money, Pettine said. He was supposed to invest the funds but both times took the money for himself, Pettine said.

Allen could not be reached Friday for comment, but her attorney, Robert G. Moore of El Cajon, said his client felt the murder charge represented “some light at the end of the tunnel, where something will be resolved.”

“If Mr. Russ is acquitted, he’s had his day in court. If he’s convicted, he’s convicted,” Moore said. “From my client’s standpoint, that’s been one of the most troubling things, not to have a conclusion, not to be able to lay everything to rest. Now we’re in a position where the final answer will be rendered.”

Moore represented Allen, a 68-year-old dance teacher, in a civil lawsuit against Russ alleging fraud and embezzlement that resulted in a $2.6-million judgment in her favor in February, 1988.

Moore has claimed that his investigation of Russ revealed a portrait of a longtime con man. Russ was involved in scams in New Mexico and Colorado before marrying Pamela, Moore has said.

In 1987, on the day Russ was to appear for arraignment on criminal charges of theft relating to his mother-in-law’s money, he dropped from sight.

Police traced him to Taos, N.M., to Phoenix and to southern Florida, but missed arresting him. Finally, this Aug. 24, Russ was arrested after a broadcast of the television show “America’s Most Wanted,” which depicted him as the probable slayer of his wife.

Russ had been using the name Patrick Donovan and was living with a 20-year-old hotel employee, Alisa Noveshen, shortly before his apprehension, authorities said. Noveshen was arrested on a federal charge of harboring a fugitive.

Before his extradition, Russ had been held in a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., jail on $500,000 bail. He originally resisted extradition but changed his mind Sept. 25 when he was taken into court in Broward County, Fla., to be served with a governor’s warrant ordering his return, authorities in Florida and California said.