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Suspect in double homicide pleads guilty at arraignment
By Jason Baker
The bloody trail left through the Santa Cruz mountains by homicide suspect Larry Lavell ended in a Santa Clara County courtroom on May 20 as a shackled and weeping Lavell pleaded guilty to the Sunday, May 16 stabbing deaths of his estranged wife and her boyfriend.
A frantic 911 call to Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police at 1:34 p.m. on May 16 led to the discovery of Suzanne Snyder, 35, of San Jose and Howard Beiderman, 36, of Los Gatos, who had both been stabbed multiple times. A 36-hour manhunt in the Santa Cruz Mountains followed, with Lavell surrendering to deputies just before 2 a.m. on May 18.
Police late Sunday had named the 41-year-old Campbell resident as their prime suspect in the stabbing deaths.
Snyder had placed the 911 call to local police on May 16 from Beiderman's hillside house on Hicks Road, about 100 yards from Los Gatos Christian Church. She told police her "ex-boyfriend" was violent and refused to leave the house. Dispatchers reportedly heard the victim pleading with her assailant while they hurriedly routed officers to the scene. The phone line went dead minutes later, police said.
Officers entered the home at 1:42 p.m. and found Snyder and Beiderman, bloody from wounds inflicted by a kitchen knife. Police summoned paramedics to the scene, where they pronounced Beiderman dead. Emergency staff transported Snyder to Valley Medical Center where she later died, officials said.
Later that day, a CHP 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.
The manhunt focused near Redwood Estates on May 17 after a motorist who had picked up a hitchhiker called 911 and reported a "suspicious person."
At one point a Santa Clara County sheriff's deputy had Lavell on the ground at gunpoint, but he escaped, which led police to create a perimeter around the area bounded by Highway 17, Mountain Charlie Road and Old Santa Cruz Highway.
After emerging from the bushes and surrendering to police, Lavell was transported to the LG-MS police department where he was turned over to investigators. Officers booked him in the county jail on two counts of murder.
Lavell is a registered high-risk sex offender with a history of violence and had been released just a month ago from San Quentin prison. He was living in Campbell with a friend who was also the foster father of Lavell's estranged wife. A hearing has been set for June 2 to determine if Lavell should be held accountable for first- or second- degree murder. Because he pleaded guilty, he avoids the possibility of a death sentence.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
