Man Wanted for Girlfriend’s Murder is Captured

Los Angeles: Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton announced this morning, at his monthly media availability, that Jonathon Arthur Hendler, 36, was arrested in Santa Monica last night. Hendler was wanted in the strangulation murder of Beverly Ann Kass-Lucit.

“Hendler’s arrest was the second in as many weeks that came from a public tip,” said Chief Bratton. “It reaffirms how much the police department relies on the public and the media to solve crimes and catch criminals.”

Acting on a public tip last night, detectives assigned to the Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force staked out a Ford dealership in Santa Monica around 6:15 PM. The tipster had said Hendler would be at the dealership to sell his car. The detectives found him on a side street, nearby.

Hendler had a black, plastic BB gun, a steak knife and a newspaper article detailing Kass-Lucit’s murder.

The Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force is made up of US Marshals, LAPD detectives, and other local law enforcement agencies.

The other capture was announced in a release on April 4, 2006. The suspect, Caesar Ray Martinez, 31, was identified through a public tip, and arrested on March 29. His female accomplice has been identified and is still at large.