Boyfriend Sought in Strangulation Murder

Los Angeles: Los Angeles Police Department detectives are asking the public’s help in finding Jonathan Arthur Hendler, who is 36 years old, has been implicated in the strangulation murder of his girlfriend, 38-year-old Beverly Ann Kass-Lucitt in Van Nuys.

On Sunday, April 2, 2006, police were directed around 4:00 PM to Kass-Lucitt’s apartment, in the 16700 block of Sherman Way, after Hendler told a friend in a phone conversation that he had choked a woman death.

According to detectives, Hendler called three different friends and admitted he had killed his girlfriend. The friend, who later reported the crime to police, is a rabbi, but was not acting in a clerical capacity.

Hendler told his friends that he intended to turn himself in, yet he remains at large. He is believed to be driving a blue 1989 Ford Mustang convertible with a black top, with California license 4KWW224.

Hendler is a three-strike felon and may be under the influence of narcotics. He should be considered extremely dangerous.

A photograph of the suspect is available to the media from Media Relations Section.

Anyone with information is asked to call Van Nuys Homicide Detectives at 818-756-8370. After hours and on weekends, call the 24-hour toll free line at 1-877-LAWFULL (529-3855).
UPDATE:  Suspect has been arrested.