Novelist’s Daughter Declared Murdered
January 2 (?), 1969
Hollywood - The pretty 17-year-old daughter of an actress and a
novelist, home on Christmas vacation from college, was found slain late
Wednesday at the bottom of a thickly wooded ravine.
Dark-haired Marina Elizabeth Habe, daughter of Hans Habe of Zurich,
Switzerland, and Eloise Hardt, was last seen when she left on a date Sunday
night.
"She was definitely murdered," said Sheriff’s Lt. Norman Hamilton who was at
the scene when the body was recovered. However, he said the cause of death would
not be announced until after a coroner’s autopsy. Witnesses said there were no
visible marks on the body.
"A lot of detectives have some ideas on this," he said, "and we want to hold
off until we can investigate them... It’s important that this body be properly
examined."
No arrests were made, but Sheriff’s Lt. Harold White said an alarm had been
issued for a car seen near the girl’s home early Wednesday morning. He said the
male driver tried to molest a woman.
The girl’s home in the Hollywood hills is located about four miles from the
ravine where Marina was found. Officers said the ravine, clogged with thick
brush, is off Mulholland Drive, a road known as a lovers lane.
Plush homes dot the hills. Nearby are houses owned by singer Robert Goulet
and former presidential press secretary Pierre Salinger.
A search party found Marina’s body about 30 feet down a slope. Searchers went
there after a woman walking on Mulholland Drive reported finding a purse. In it
were Marina’s compact, credit cards and a small amount of money.
Searchers said the ravine was so overgrown with brush that a helicopter
circling the area for days did not spot the body of the petite, blue-eyed girl,
aspiring to be an actress.
Marina’s body was still clad in the brown slacks and fur-trimmed coat she
wore when she left to visit John Hornburg, 22, a family friend, in the Brentwood
section of Los Angeles Sunday night.
Sheriff’s Lt. White said the girl had been dead since early Monday morning.
Hornburn said he and Marina met two other couples at a night club on Santa
Monica Boulevard about 8:30 Sunday night. They returned to his home about 11:30,
and Marina left by herself about 3:15am. She was headed home - usually a
20-minute drive.
The girl’s mother, an actress who last appeared in the film "Games", said she
heard noises outside at about 3:30 a.m. She heard a loud muffler and saw a man
about 20 years old standing next to her daughter’s small foreign car in the
driveway.
Suddenly, Miss Hardt said she saw a black sedan back out of the driveway. It
stopped and the man climbed into the passenger side shouting something like:
"Let’s go," the mother said.
A search was begun, and relatives said they suspected the girl might have
been kidnapped.
Marina’s parents were divorced more than 10 years ago and the mother is
remarried. The girl lived with her mother until after she was graduated from Los
Angeles high School last May. She was home on Christmas vacation from the
University of Hawaii.
The girl’s father was reported en route from Zurich.
|
Thanks to "Hard John Apple 3"
for the article! |
