News Stand

Police seek ex-convict in homicide

By Jason Baker

At press time, police have closed Summit Road near Highway 17 in their hunt for an ex-convict and self-styled survivalist who allegedly stabbed to death his estranged wife and her male friend in a Los Gatos home May 16.

Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police on Sunday identified Campbell resident Larry Roman Lavell, 41, as the primary suspect in the weekend slaying of Suzanne Snyder, 35, of San Jose, and Howard Beiderman, 36, of Los Gatos. Police found Snyder and Beiderman suffering from multiple stab wounds at Beiderman's hillside home on Hicks Road shortly before 2 p.m.

Witnesses reported seeing Lavell near a pay phone in the area of Redwood Estates after he abandoned his pickup truck Sunday. Sgt. Tam McCarty of the Los Gatos PD says Lavell is believed to have connections in the Watsonville, Scotts Valley and Felton areas. He also is believed to have affiliations with white supremacist groups in the area. Police also believe he may have access to assault weapons and a bulletproof vest.

Lavell, a Campbell resident and registered high-risk sex offender with a history of violence, had been released just a month ago from San Quentin prison, court records show.

Lavell pleaded guilty to a charge of failure to register as a sex offender in Santa Clara County in 1996. In 1979, Lavell was one of four men involved in a gang rape in Los Angeles County and was convicted for assault with intent to commit rape, court records show. He lived in an apartment on Hacienda Avenue after his release from prison.

Police reports show dispatchers received a frantic 911 call at 1:34 p.m. Sunday from a woman at a hillside house on Hicks Road. Dispatchers reportedly heard the victim pleading with an assailant while they hurriedly routed officers to the scene. The phone line went dead minutes later, police said.

Later Sunday, a California Highway Patrol officer found a camouflaged Dodge pickup belonging to Lavell in the Redwood Estates area. Witnesses described seeing a man resembling Lavell apparently abandoning the truck, police said.

Witnesses described Lavell as a white man, 5 feet 8 inches tall, with close-cropped hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a military-green tank top. Anyone seeing someone matching Lavell's description is asked to call 911.

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