Larissa Schuster

[TobyTiger]

A few names are familiar: Aileen Wuornos, Karla Faye Tucker, Pamela Smart and Mary Winkler.

Larissa Schuster is another name to be added to this list.

Larissa Schuster,46, a former Clovis (California) biochemist, is charged with the kidnapping, torture and murder of her husband, 45-year-old Timothy Schuster, in July 2003.

She did not act alone. A co-conspirator and former employee, James Fagone, 24, was prosecuted and convicted of murder in December 2006. Fagone's own testimony sealed his fate. He had accepted a $2,000. payment from Larissa Schuster in exchange for help with the slaying.

Prosecutors in the case state the two first immobilized Timothy Schuster with a stun gun and a chloroform-soaked rag. They bound his hands and feet, before dumping him head first - and still breathing - into a 55-gallon barrel and poured bottles of hydrochloric acid on his body. By the time his body was discovered days later, in a storage unit rented by Larissa Schuster, the upper half was dissolved.

Larissa Schuster's trial begins Monday, October 15, 2007...

[TobyTiger]

LARISSA SCHUSTER TRIAL SET FOR OCT. 15 IN L.A. COUNTY (http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/153545.html)


The trial of a Clovis biochemist accused of killing her husband and pouring acid on his body is scheduled to begin Oct. 15 in a Los Angeles County courtroom, more than four years after she was arrested.

On Monday, prosecutors, defense attorneys and a Fresno County Superior Court judge began what likely will be a week's worth of discussions on the ground rules for the upcoming trial.

Roger Nuttall, defense attorney for Larissa Schuster, said Monday that the pretrial motions will "help shape the course of the trial."

Schuster, 46, is accused of kidnapping, torturing and killing her husband, Timothy Schuster. The two were in the middle of a bitter divorce when his remains were found in a barrel of acid in Larissa Schuster's rented storage unit in July 2003.

Last month, Judge Wayne Ellison granted a motion to move the trial out of Fresno County because the murder trial of Schuster's co-defendant, James Fagone, had received intense media coverage.

In December, a Fresno County jury found Fagone guilty of murder, rejecting his argument that he was intimidated into joining the gruesome murder plot.

Ellison on Monday said the trial will start Oct. 15 in Department 114 of the Van Nuys West courthouse in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley.

This week, both sides are taking up various motions associated with the trial, which cover everything from media coverage to whether certain potential witnesses will be allowed to remain in the courtroom when they are not on the stand.

One part of Monday's hearing dealt with Timothy Schuster's employment records from Saint Agnes Medical Center.

Nuttall wants them as evidence for the trial. In court, he said he may have an expert testify on "battered person syndrome," and he commented that the evidence request pertains to Larissa Schuster's emotional state during the couple's divorce proceedings.

Ellison made no decision on whether the records will be part of the trial.

The jury pool will be 150, which both Nuttall and prosecutor Dennis Peterson said was sufficient.

On Oct. 15 jurors will fill out questionnaires. By midweek, jurors will come into court for individual questioning, and Ellison hopes to have jurors seated by the end of Oct. 18. Opening arguments would then start the following Monday.

It appears that Fagone will not be called as a witness by either side in the trial, but Nuttall said afterward that he expects Schuster to take the stand in her own defense.

source: The Fresno Bee, 10/01/07

[TobyTiger]

JUDGE FINALIZES PLANS FOR HIGH-PROFILE MURDER TRIAL (http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=5684373)

10/01/2007 - Judge Wayne Ellison decided the media will be allowed in the Larissa Schuster murder trial. The same judge granted a change of venue motion last month, moving the trial to Van Nuys.

Larissa is accused of killing her husband and dumping his body in a barrel of acid.

A date for jury selection has also been finalized. That's scheduled to begin on October 15.

Opening statements should start the following week.

source: abc30.com

[TobyTiger]

JURY SELECTION BEGINS (http://www.ksee24.com/news/local/10554207.html)

Story Updated: Oct 15, 2007 at 6:46 PM EDT
Jury selection began Monday in the case of a Clovis bio-chemist accused of killing her estranged husband and stuffing his body in a barrel of acid.

Larissa Schuster's case was moved to Van Nuys County in Southern California to ensure she receives a fair trial.

Opening statements are scheduled to begin October 22.

Schuster allegedly committed the murder with the help of a young employee James Fagone.

Fagone has already been convicted of the 2003 killing.

In Fagone's trial, the court heard multiple angry phone messages from Schuster to her estranged husband, Timothy Schuster.

The state will argue that Schuster and her young employee entered Timothy Schuster's house, where they knocked him out, and then put his body in a barrel and poured multiple bottles of acid inside.

Both the prosecution and defense say they do not plan on calling Fagone to the witness stand.

Fagone's case is currently on appeal.

KSEE 24 News court reporter Theresa Freed is in Van Nuys following the case. Watch KSEE 24 News at 4, 5, and 6 for live reports.

You can also click on Larissa Schuster Trial Blog to read Theresa’s courtroom blog.

[TobyTiger]

UPDATES FROM THE COURTROOM (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/165030.html)

By Chris Collins / The Fresno Bee10/15/07

3:44 p.m.: VAN NUYS - Larissa Schuster made her first appearance in front of potential jurors this afternoon when she stood up in front of a crowd of 150 people packed into a courthouse auditorium. Schuster, 47, wore a blouse, a suit jacket and dress pants. When she was introduced by her attorney, Roger Nuttall, she smiled and nodded, and then mouthed "Thank you."

Judge Wayne Ellison of Fresno County Superior Court explained to the potential jurors that the case was moved to Van Nuys, a suburb of Los Angeles, because of local media attention to the case. He also gave the potential jurors what he described as a "media story" summary of the case:

"On July 10, 2003, Timothy Schuster was reported missing from home in Clovis, Calif.," Ellison said. "Four days later on July 14, his remains were discovered in a barrel that also contained hydrochloric acid. Larissa Schuster and James Fagone were arrested and charged with the crime."


11:59 a.m.: On the first day of Larissa Schuster's trial in a Los Angeles suburb courthouse, Schuster's attorney said Monday morning he was concerned his client did not have access to a comb, toothpaste, deodorant and her anti-depressant Zoloft medications.

Attorney Roger Nuttall said he was worried that Schuster, the Clovis businesswoman accused of murdering her husband in 2003 and leaving his body in a barrel of acid, will appear disheveled in front of the 148 potential jurors that will be introduced to her this afternoon. Schuster was in court this morning wearing a yellow Los Angeles County Jail outfit with her hair pulled up.

"She has no soap, no deodorant, no curlers or rollers for her hair," Nuttall said. "I'm concerned about her image. She needs to be able to present herself in a clean, attractive way. I want to make sure she feels good about herself and her image."

Judge Wayne Ellison of Fresno County Superior Court didn’t directly address Nuttall's concerns, but said he did not think Schuster was being treated any differently than every other Los Angeles County Jail inmate.

Opening statements in Schuster's trial are scheduled for next Monday.

Ellison ruled last month that the trial should be held near Los Angeles after he decided local media attention made it impossible to find an impartial jury in Fresno County. The trial is expected to last four to eight weeks.

[wind149]

She is on trial for murder not a fashion show! If you ask me the way Pam Smart dressed during her trial backfired on her. She came to court everyday, perfect hair, makeup and dressed to the nines in suits and dresses. I remember this whole case from A-Z. Don't let her kid you , she is a stone cold woman, that is why she was dubbed the "Ice Queen" by the media. I lived two hours from Derry NH and the media was camped out in my area too. Every restaurant in town, bars, had live TV coverage of the trial. You could not go anywhere without Pam being the hot topic. I knew from the get-go she was the mastermind behind the whole murder. She enticed a child to do her dirty work. It was never proven Gregg had ever abused her in any way and my take was she did not want to lose her leather couch and Gregg had cut his hair so he did not look like a rocker anymore. The insurance money was thought to be the motive, but this awful woman made a child shoot her husband because she did not want to just divorce him. A reporter from WMUR in NH went and interviewed her right after the murder and he says when he talked to her it made the hair stand on his neck. He knew right there she knew more than what she was saying. I figured out by the third time I saw her on a Boston station that she knew who killed Gregg. When she was arrested, I was not shocked. Her mother firmly believes her daughter is innocent, and is moaning every now and then to the media. Pam does not have it half bad at Bedford Hills. She is not doing hard time. She has her own room, her own bedding, TV, stereo, orders her nighties from Victoria's Secret, has weekend visits with her family in a trailer on the prison grounds. She cooks her own meals, is able to order food. She wears her own clothes and teaches other inmates. Needless to say though, she has not been a model prisoner. She has been written up and pictures she claims a guard took of her against her will showed up in a rag magazine, her wearing revealing nighties. She is not popular there at all and that is why she lives on the mental ward instead of gen pop. She will never leave there and that gives me satisfaction. The boys especially Billy Flynn I have always felt bad for. His hormones were in overdrive and he really believed that Pam would be his and he was willing to do anything she asked and the poor kid will be 43 when he goes up for his first parole hearing in 2018. Vince Lattimere and Raymond Fowler were released on parole in 2004. It has not been easy on them either. The other boy, will also be up for parole in 2018. Half of their life behind bars because of one evil woman. I seen her one night on Rita Cosby's show whining about how she was set up, and the only thing she was guilty of was sleeping with Billy. She claims she loved Gregg and did not want a divorce. Now his parents, are the victims too. His Mom died a couple of years after the trial. Mr.Smart says she died of a broken heart. He also claims if Pam would admit her guilt, he would ask the governor for clemency, but Pame as she likes to be called won't budge. I hope when Billy gets out people will leave him alone and he can have a life again. As for her, she will die in prison and that is OK with NH! Her mother asked the governor a couple years back about a new trial as Mommy claims Pame did not get a fair trial because of the publicity and she says the media convicted her before the trial. Governor Lynch would not go for it. It might have happened 17 years ago, but in NH it is still fresh on people's minds. This woman too, will be convicted, the evidence is overwhelming just like with Pam. The tapes between her and Cecilia Pierce was the nail in her coffin. Had they not had that, I still think she would have been convicted, but maybe not life without parole. She hung herself on on one tape saying that if CP talks to the cops, that they all would end up in the slammer. I remember watching the trial when this was being played and Mr. Smart commented about her gutter mouth and how she is anything but a lady and how this is gonna sink her. So she is exactly where she needs to be.

[TobyTiger]

And this defendant is no Pamela Smart to begin with, as far as appearance is concerned...which is why counsel is concerned about her "image". She presents a cold, hard demeanor, much like Wuornos.

Inwardly, Schuster and Smart are much alike, however.

[wind149]

Toby, this is one case I had not heard about till last night. And explain to me please how her outward image is going to help her inward? AW was a damaged soul from the minute she was born. Her mother did not want her, stuck her with a grandfather who raped her and impregnated her at age 12. She basically lived on the streets of Jackson MI with no one to love her, and was turning tricks by age 14. She went to Fla and prostituted herself up and down the coast. The only person who probably did love her was Tyra Moore and as warped as AW was, I think she loved her too. She obviously hated men, was deeply mentally ill and a part of me, while I do not condone what she did, felt for this poor woman. What a horrible life she had. Blanche Taylor Moore saw her father when she killed. I was glad towards the end AW had someone in her corner. A woman, I think was a minister, actually adopted AW and at least for her last days on earth, she had some peace and someone who cared for her. Notice she would always say she killed them because they raped her? Now she had sex with dozens of men for money or drugs, and I think a lifetime of being degraded, used like so much trash, it snapped her mind and she killed the men because in the dark corners of her mentally ill mind, it was her grandfather raping her all over again and that is who she saw, not the men. She did it for her survival, her defense, because she could never stand up to her grandfather. I saw her mother on a documentary trying to lay the guilt trip. I had no sympathy for her whatsoever. She claims that Daddy raped her too, but yet, she takes off with some loser and leaves her children with a man who was a sexual deviant? Her brother I believe is dead as well. Her mother whined about how she had to hide in her little red-neck town in the UP of MI when the story broke about AW. All about her, not the children she left with a monster. But it sounds like this woman did it for greed and not passion. What do you think of Susan Polk? Buy her story? I don't and I do not buy Mary Winkler's version either. I was perusing the net a while ago and came across Crime Library's archives on Ruth Snyder. She fried in the chair in 1920 after having an affair and killing her husband for a $2,000 life insurance policy. They showed her no mercy at Sing Sing. No fan fair there. Strapped in and sent to hell. I, at first thought they should go with the DP for Pam Smart as I am for the DP big time, and then I got to thinking, for her, I want LWPOP and now since she is not doing really hard time and staring at walls, I rethought that one. What it always boils down to with murder for hire or greed, you do get caught. People run their mouths and rat you out. In the end, you still don't have you want, the money or even more important, your freedom. Pam Smart was an attractive woman. She is not at age 40 now. I saw where she had aged badly and prison will do that to you and it gives me comfort to know she is not going to see Motley Crue or Def Leppard in concert ever again. She will never party again. I have hated a man so much, I truly wanted him dead, but I was not going to pull the trigger as he got his in the end anyway and I did not blow my life up in the process. He was a child molesting piece of crap that WAS a cop. He is nothing now .A pariah, living with his Mommy who is his one true love. I blew the whistle on him and would do it again. So I understand passion killings to a point. but greed, I don't.

[TobyTiger]

Toby, this is one case I had not heard about till last night. And explain to me please how her outward image is going to help her inward? AW was a damaged soul from the minute she was born.
Actually what I was referring to was the evil nature inside both Schuster and Smart to plot their husbands' demise, and both using a young man to assist them with the deed.

The comparison between Schuster and Wuornos was basically the hardened exterior which gives the jury their first impression of the defendant. They don't have anything in common in their backgrounds or what led them to commit murder.

[TobyTiger]

SCHUSTER TRIAL CONTINUES JURY SELECTION PROCESS (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/166266.html)

The Fresno Bee 10/16/07 16:48:36

VAN NUYS - On the second day of Larissa Schuster's murder trial, prosecution and defense attorneys agreed Tuesday to dismiss about two dozen potential jurors who appeared to either have a prior knowledge of the case or said they could not judge Schuster fairly. About 100 potential jurors remain.

Today and Thursday, attorneys will question the potential jurors and eventually select 12 for the jury, as well as four alternates.

Schuster, 47, is a former Clovis businesswoman accused of murdering her husband in 2003 and leaving his body in a barrel of acid. Opening statements in her trial, which is being held in a Van Nuys courthouse, are scheduled to begin Monday.

[wind149]

Yep, I see what you mean now. Using someone else to do your dirty work for you. Billy Flynn was reeled in hook, line, and sinker, the first night he slept with Pam. That sealed Gregg's fate and this is why we all from NH despise this loser. She had the world by the tail, a handsome husband who had a great career, a nice home and a good job herself. She was such an ego maniac it bit her in the ass in the end and I get disgusted when I see her mother whining to the media about what a bad rap her daughter got. NO mention of Gregg getting a bullet in his head, her own son-in-law. It is all about her innocent daughter and this does not bode well with anyone from NH. She did this to herself, divorce would have been better for everyone involved, but her ego could not take the fact Gregg had cheated on her, and was not being the head banger he was. She actually freaked out and wanted a divorce when she came home and found he had cut his hair! I always used to cry when I would see the Smart's on TV. Mr Smart always looked so broken, so crushed, and then I would get pissed off for him! But she will never get out and that is a comfort to him.

For Gregg Smart:rose:

[TobyTiger]

Yep, I see what you mean now. Using someone else to do your dirty work for you. Billy Flynn was reeled in hook, line, and sinker...
That is the similarity in the Schuster case. James Fagone was a 21-year old employee of Larissa Schuster who was "reeled in" in the same manner as Billy Flynn was to Pamela Smart. Now he is serving LWOP for murder.

[TobyTiger]

JURY SELECTION CONTINUES... (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/166974.html)

10/17/07 12:06:35

VAN NUYS -- Nearly 100 potential jurors packed a small courtroom Wednesday morning on the third day of Larissa Schuster’s murder trial.

Schuster, a 47-year-old Clovis woman who owned a Fresno research lab, is accused of murdering her husband in 2003 and leaving his body in a barrel of acid. Judge Wayne Ellison of Fresno County Superior Court ruled last month to move the case to a Los Angeles suburban courthouse after deciding local media attention made it too difficult to find an impartial jury in Fresno County.

This morning Ellison asked some of the jurors a series of questions about whether they have friends or family in law enforcement, and whether they knew anyone who was murdered or was a murder suspect. Two potential jurors were removed because of poor hearing, and one potential juror was dismissed because she said she had short-term memory loss.

Jury selection is scheduled to continue today and Thursday. Opening statements are scheduled for Monday.

[TobyTiger]

JURY SELECTION EXPECTED TO BE FINISHED TODAY (http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/167490.html)

The Fresno Bee 10/18/07

VAN NUYS -- The judge had already told potential jurors earlier this week that this would be no ordinary murder trial. So on Wednesday, Larissa Schuster's defense lawyer made it clear they should expect the worst.

"The remains of the body were found in a barrel of acid," attorney Roger Nuttall told some of the 93 potential jurors packed into a courtroom on the seventh floor of the Los Angeles County Superior Court building in Van Nuys, where Schuster's case is being tried. "You're going to be shown by the prosecutor photographs of those remains. It's not pleasant, to say the least. It's horrific, to say the least."

One juror wiped her forehead. Nuttall continued: "Knowing just that, what I've described, is there any one of you who feel that you cannot afford Larissa Schuster a fair trial?"

The audience was silent. Nuttall nodded approvingly.

It was day three of Schuster's murder trial, and the first day that potential jurors were asked questions about their personal background, their feelings toward law enforcement officers, and whether they could handle seeing grim photos and listen to disturbing testimony.

Schuster, 47, who lived in Clovis and owned a Fresno research lab, is accused of killing her husband in 2003 and leaving his body in a barrel of acid.

On Wednesday, Nuttall dismissed eight potential jurors and prosecutor Dennis Peterson dismissed six. Each attorney is allowed to dismiss as many as 20 potential jurors before a final panel of 12 jurors and four alternates is selected. Jury selection is expected to conclude today.

Among those dismissed by Nuttall was a man who said he had friends in law enforcement, a woman who said her ex-husband's daughter was murdered years ago and hinted that she had found a defendant guilty when serving as a juror on a previous murder trial, and a woman who said she retired from an extensive law enforcement career.

Peterson asked each potential juror to say how comfortable they felt serving as a juror, on a scale of one to 10. Most said "eight" or "nine," but one woman who said "six" was dismissed by Peterson, as well as a man who said he had never served on a jury before.

Each potential juror was assigned a three-digit number, and their names were not used in court.

Galatea DeLapp, a Fresno lawyer and consultant who helps attorneys select juries, said Nuttall is likely looking for female jurors who could sympathize with Schuster. But, DeLapp said, Nuttall has a reputation for trusting his instincts more than following a formula when selecting jurors.

"Roger is very much a people person," said DeLapp, who worked with Nuttall on a previous case. "If he connects with somebody or gets a good feel from somebody, he sticks with them."

Peterson, DeLapp said, is likely searching for jurors who have more analytical minds and will insist on following the law no matter the emotions involved in the case. He's also probably trying to avoid anyone who could hold out on a guilty verdict and lead to a hung jury, she said.

"As a prosecutor, I would be very careful about anyone who appears fringy or on the edge," DeLapp said.

more of the story at the link

[TobyTiger]

9 WOMEN, 3 MEN ON SCHUSTER JURY (http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/168579.html)

VAN NUYS -- The jurors stood up and were sworn in. Larissa Schuster, sitting at a table 20 feet away, stared across the courtroom at the nine women and three men who would -- as the prosecutor constantly reminded them -- be her judges. Schuster smiled politely.

After 1 1/2 days of questioning from attorneys, a relatively diverse panel of 12 jurors and four alternates was selected Thursday morning in Schuster's murder trial.

They are mostly middle-aged Los Angeles County residents, though some of them are elderly and two appear to be in their 20s.

Jurors are not allowed to be interviewed before a trial concludes, and their names were not used in court. Instead, they are assigned numbers. But based on comments the jurors made in court, it appears that some of them have served on juries before, and many said they would judge Schuster based on the facts, not emotions.

Schuster, a 47-year-old Clovis biochemist who owned a Fresno research lab, is accused of murdering her husband in 2003 and leaving his body in a barrel of acid. If convicted, she faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Because it is unlikely Schuster's co-defendant, James Fagone, will testify in the trial and -- for legal reasons -- his taped confessions to police will not be submitted as evidence, prosecutor Dennis Peterson will rely mostly on circumstantial evidence. Such evidence would not directly point to Schuster as the person who committed the murder.

In response to a question from Peterson, one of the selected jurors said she agreed that "circumstantial evidence has to be considered, too."

Another juror said she would not base her decision about Schuster's guilt or innocence on any one witness's testimony.

"I would rely on my own feelings and take the evidence as presented," she said.

At least five of the jurors said they had served on a jury before. Asked whether the jurors knew anyone who had been murdered, one male juror said that a friend of his family was killed five months ago, but that it would not affect his judgment in Schuster's case.

Peterson said he was pleased with the jury's makeup and said he did not think the outcome of the case would be affected by the fact that most of the panel members are women.

"They seem to be good, common sense-type people like the ones in Fresno," he said.

more at the link

[TobyTiger]

VOICEMAIL, VIDEOTAPE PLAYED FOR JURORS AT SCHUSTER TRIAL (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/171026.html)

Updated 4:30 p.m.: VAN NUYS -- During his opening statements this afternoon in Larissa Schuster's murder trial, prosecutor Dennis Peterson played portions of Schuster's videotaped interview with police the day after her husband went missing in summer 2003.

In the tape, Clovis police officers left the interview room for a few minutes and Schuster paced back and forth, rubbing her face with hands and later crossing her arms.

She later admitted to police that she had lied about not calling her estranged husband, Timothy Schuster, early the day before. She insisted she did not know where her husband was.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:13 a.m.: VAN NUYS -- During his opening statements in Larissa Schuster's murder trial, prosecutor Dennis Peterson played five minutes of recorded voice mails Schuster left on her husband's phone before he was killed in July 2003.
"I hate your [expletive] guts so much I can't stand you," Schuster said in one of the voicemails. "I hope you burn in hell."

Schuster stared at the jury with an expressionless look on her face while the recordings were played.

Peterson also told jurors he would bring in about 50 witnesses over what he expects to be a 10-day period. Schuster's defense attorney, Roger Nuttall, said he will give his opening statements after Peterson is done presenting his case.

[TobyTiger]

OFFICER DESCRIBES BURGLARY AT TIMOTHY SCHUSTER'S HOME (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/171944.html)

Updated 4:25 p.m.: VAN NUYS -- A Clovis police officer testified this afternoon in Larissa Schuster’s murder trial that in August 2002 he investigated a burglary of the home of Schuster's husband, Timothy Schuster. "I noticed that the house was ransacked," Officer Richard Zuniga said. "Items were thrown about on the floor, items were broken. It was just kinda all messed up."

Larissa Schuster later confessed to burglarizing the home, her manicurist, Terri Lopez, has said.

Zuniga said that among the items stolen were a key to Larissa Schuster's Lexus (which Timothy Schuster still possessed), two computers, a printer, a TV, a DVD, a VCR, home theater speakers, glassware, decorative baskets and Timothy Schuster's documents detailing how often he was allowed to have custody of their son, Tyler. The Schusters were going through a bitter divorce at the time and child custody matters had not been settled.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:36 a.m.: VAN NUYS –- A former neighbor testified in Larissa Schuster's murder trial this morning that she saw Schuster moving a large blue barrel around in her garage a few weeks before Schuster’s husband went missing in the summer of 2003.
"She was just moving it -– that's what caught my eye," neighbor Judy VanGorkom said. "She was just moving it to the side of the garage."

more at the link

[wind149]

Not to go off topic of this murderess, but I have posted on the Children Who Kill board about Gregg Smart's murderer. He is asking for early release and I am all for it surprisingly, keeping in terms I do not side with murderers, but in his case I take exception. Funny, how I posted with you about Miss Maiden of Metal there and boom, I open my local paper from NH and there he is all grown up has made very positive changes in his life, he is remorseful and has been right along unlike loser Pame. She has a new pity party web-site and there is a guest book page and I gotta tell ya, no warm and fuzzy messages for her. Most people wish she would just rot in hell and amazingly, a lot of people do feel Bill Flynn should be released and I had to rub that one in! She is doing LWPOP and even if Bill does not get early release, he still will get out someday. I posted about how I have never seen him on any crime shows, is never planning on writing a book and has never whined publicly about how bad prison life has been. He has earned degrees and several trades and working with a lot of children's charities and he is to be commended for doing so. He is not just doing time, he is giving back and that is all he can do. He can't bring Gregg Smart back, but prison is not always about punishment. God will judge him one day and I hope he does favorably, whereas, Pam he won't. This woman, based on what I have read here, is a murderess and will be in all probability be found guilty. Greed is what this speaks of and yes, you are exactly right. She used a young man to do her dirty work just like Pam. Pam can whine till the day she dies and it won't do her a bit of good. She is where she will be for life. No new trial will ever happen. Her mother whines that she was convicted because of the media hype, but there were 12 impartial people who did not see the cameras. I saw the trial in it's entirety and if a new one would come about, the outcome would be the same. This woman here is gonna find out just like Pam, that people do not forget heinous crimes.

[TobyTiger]

I will commend Billy Flynn for the efforts he has made while in prison, and attempting to atone for the horrible deed he participated in committing. You're right, it won't bring Gregg Smart back to life, but at least he seems remorseful. I do believe he was vulnerable to whatever Pamela Smart suggested or told him to do...just as James Fagone was to Larissa Schuster. Fagone was 21, however, when he participated in the murder of Timothy Schuster, therefore he should have been of a more mature mind than Flynn. Schuster, like Pamela Smart, is a controlling woman who uses those weaker than herself to her own gain. Hopefully the jury will see that she was the mastermind behind her husband's death and that Fagone didn't initiate this himself.

[wind149]

While this young man is not a child like Bill was, he apparently was under a similar spell like Bill. These evil women trapped them in their web and now just Bill this guy is going to do some serious time if not a life sentence. He will, just like the boys did, gonna roll on Larissa and say she was the mastermind behind the crime and she will probably get LWPOP like Pam. It is eerie in a way how similar the cases are in the sense, both of these women wanted their husbands dead and I guess divorce was out of the question. In Pam's case, it was as far as anyone ever tried to determine, was she did not want to lose her rented condo, her dog, and her leather couch and Gregg did not want to be a rocker head banger anymore and wanted to work in the family business. What a pile of reasons to coerce 4 young men to kill her husband. We have women getting charged with murder whose husband beat the stuffing out of them for years and they just snapped. In these cases, it is almost a shame to put these poor souls in prison as they had already been living in one with the SOB. I was a battered wife so I know. He only hit me twice and did not get a third. The emotional abuse was even worse though. He has now been married five time and I was his 4th. He is a control freak, and extremely jealous and I worked for a sheriff's dept and he would accuse me of sleeping with my guys. One time he followed me all the way to a detail I was doing just to see if that is where I was going. I knew right then and there, this marriage is over. Now in this woman's case was there any domestic violence issues? Pam claimed Gregg had hit her and not one soul ever saw him raise his voice at her, never mind hit her. She used that as a ploy to get Bill all fired up to do the dirty deed. Today, there is a press release from the Smart family and expectantly, very displeased that he could be released early. I expected that, however, Mr. Smart had sorta forgiven Bill in the sense he knew the hold she had on him as she had a hold on his own son beforehand. I don't think there will be a day they will invite Bill to dinner, but the kid has really tried to turn his life around and that is to be taken in consideration. I read the letter he wrote to the judge and how articulate he was, the insight, the remorse, and I have a feeling if it does not happen soon, it will later. I don't think he will have to wait till 2018. Many people actually have posted on boards how he should be given a second chance. And boy, do they still loathe Pam.

[TobyTiger]

Larissa Schuster controlled Tim and the relationship. His fatal mistake was to fight back at the end....

You may want to read this detailed article published in the Fresno Bee on Sunday, Oct. 13. It is basically a summary of their life together.

FINAL FURY (http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/164139.html)

[wind149]

Wow, what another example of how people can be two people at once. Pam was raised in a good home and so was Gregg. Larrissa apparently had some issues with her father, but was able to function quite well, no one saw the dark side of her till she murdered her husband. What is gonna sink her is her rantings at the hairdresser about how much she hated her husband. I ended up hating my second one, but I did not kill him. A LWPOP is looming on the horizon for her by the sounds of things and it will be based on the horrific way in which she basically disposed of him. I pray he was dead before he took that acid bath. What goes through people's heads? I mean some women kill their husbands because they are abusive and others kill for greed, or in some cases they are sociopaths like this broad and Pam. After reading the article, I am way up to speed about her and I hope she gets what is coming to her. Sounds like Hubby wasn't a bad guy, neither was Gregg Smart.:no:

[TobyTiger]

Wow, what another example of how people can be two people at once. Pam was raised in a good home and so was Gregg. Larrissa apparently had some issues with her father, but was able to function quite well, no one saw the dark side of her till she murdered her husband. What is gonna sink her is her rantings at the hairdresser about how much she hated her husband. I ended up hating my second one, but I did not kill him. A LWPOP is looming on the horizon for her by the sounds of things and it will be based on the horrific way in which she basically disposed of him. I pray he was dead before he took that acid bath. What goes through people's heads? I mean some women kill their husbands because they are abusive and others kill for greed, or in some cases they are sociopaths like this broad and Pam. After reading the article, I am way up to speed about her and I hope she gets what is coming to her. Sounds like Hubby wasn't a bad guy, neither was Gregg Smart.:no:
You are correct...her own words to the manicurist will be her undoing. There is no explanation for this horrendous murder, except her own sociopathic, controlling nature that Tim defied. There was no financial gain to be had, or abuse on the part of Tim against her or the children. In fact, as you have read in the article, she sent her daughter away to Missouri when the daughter developed a friendship with an African-American male.

Sadly, it is possible that Tim wasn't dead when placed in the barrel filled with acid.

[frommissouri]

I live in Missouri and have known Larissa and her family (the Foreman family) for years. Her mother is the sweetest person you would ever want to meet....I feel so sorry for her, I know this has been so hard for her and she as really aged over the past 4 years. Her father seems to be a fairly nice guy, especially if you are female, but he has been known to hit his wife (Larissas' mother) and pretty much has a general reputation as being a jerk. She has an older brother that was quite older than I so I really don't know him as well. She had a younger brother who comitted suicide several years ago...he shot himself, but since she has done all this to her husband I am wondering now if it was suicide or if she just thought she could kill her brother and it would be one less person to share the family inheritance with. Her grandparents were known to have money and they raised and showed horses and were well known for their show quality horses. Her parents and family still farm, and her mother is a nurse at the local medical clinic. Through highschool Larissa always had that arogant, prissy, "I am better than you" attitude she always had to be #1 in everything. Even though what she did to Tim was a shock to a small town that watched her grow up..the fact that she could commit murder was no surprise...Larissa was all for Larissa and the almighty dollar no matter what the cost. She was so sure she would be able to use her money and her nose in the air attitude that she thought she could get away with murder. With all the evidence she left she might as well have drawn a map and wrote a confession. I hope she spends the rest of her life looking at 4 gray walls. She should have to have pictures of her husband, his acid eaten body and her children and family hanging on her walls to look at everyday and think of what she has done to them.

[frommissouri]

In addition....James Fagone said in his confession and when questioned that he thought Tim was still alive when he was put in the barrel because he could hear him groaning. There was nothing done to him that would have definitely killed him before the acid did. You can survive a stungun hit and Cholorform was used as a sedative back in the ages. I would guess he was still alive but how alert or sedated he was will never be known....lets just hope for his sake he was quite sedated.

[wind149]

I had posted to Toby that I had hoped he was dead before he went into the acid and now you are telling us he was alive, let that evil witch rot in hell!! I always think the real picture always emerges during a murder trial than it does before. That is when we find out say, the squeaky clean all American Family image was all a front and in the background the dark side is rearing it's ugly head. It is amazing how much she and Pam Smart are alike. Pam was always thinking she was better than everybody else too, even though she just came from a middle class family. She was popular in school because she was pretty but during the whole trial debacle, a lot of kids she went to school with told the media and the prosecutor that deep down a lot of them did not like that much. She was very meticulous about her clothing all hung in her closets by color and all her shoes had to be lined up perfectly. Other items were all well. Canned goods, the fridge, very OCD. She wanted to be the best at what she did which is not a crime and wanted to be a famous and in a macabre way she is. It is a good insight into this woman as well. And these people who harm others do not see the harm they cause their own families. The Wojas family, Pam, family, got death threats and were treated like total pariahs and still are. In this woman's case it is her poor mother that is suffering so. These women are true sociopaths and you wonder what age do kids actually become one? Like Jeff Dahlmer. His parents knew years ago he had issues and did try to get him some help, but I think by that point it was too late. The Wojas family knew their daughter was selfish, totally into Pam's World and I wish someday they will wake up like SS's mom has had to do and see the truth. Her parents lost everything. Their home, they mortgaged it to the hilt, they lost their social standing in the community and many friends completely turned against them and here sits their selfish daughter whining about what a raw deal she got. Mark my words, this witch will too.

[TobyTiger]

I live in Missouri and have known Larissa and her family (the Foreman family) for years. Her mother is the sweetest person you would ever want to meet....I feel so sorry for her, I know this has been so hard for her and she as really aged over the past 4 years. Her father seems to be a fairly nice guy, especially if you are female, but he has been known to hit his wife (Larissas' mother) and pretty much has a general reputation as being a jerk. She has an older brother that was quite older than I so I really don't know him as well. She had a younger brother who comitted suicide several years ago...he shot himself, but since she has done all this to her husband I am wondering now if it was suicide or if she just thought she could kill her brother and it would be one less person to share the family inheritance with. Her grandparents were known to have money and they raised and showed horses and were well known for their show quality horses. Her parents and family still farm, and her mother is a nurse at the local medical clinic. Through highschool Larissa always had that arogant, prissy, "I am better than you" attitude she always had to be #1 in everything. Even though what she did to Tim was a shock to a small town that watched her grow up..the fact that she could commit murder was no surprise...Larissa was all for Larissa and the almighty dollar no matter what the cost. She was so sure she would be able to use her money and her nose in the air attitude that she thought she could get away with murder. With all the evidence she left she might as well have drawn a map and wrote a confession. I hope she spends the rest of her life looking at 4 gray walls. She should have to have pictures of her husband, his acid eaten body and her children and family hanging on her walls to look at everyday and think of what she has done to them.
Welcome!

Good to have someone here who has a personal connection to this case...on the other end, where Larissa was from. I completely agree with your last sentence.

[TobyTiger]

Latest updates from the courtroom:

SPECIALIST ID's REMAINS IN BARREL AS TIMOTHY SCHUSTER (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/175177.html)

10/26/07 12:18:13


Updated 3:35 p.m.: VAN NUYS -- Testimony in the Larissa Schuster murder trial ended this morning after a DNA specialist testified there was a 99.99% certainty that the human remains found in a barrel were those of Schuster's estranged husband, Timothy Schuster.

The trial will resume Monday.


12:15 p.m.: A woman who worked part-time at Larissa Schuster's research lab in Fresno testified in Schuster’s murder trial this morning that her boss once told her she wished she could kill her husband.
"Once I was in the lab and there was news on TV about a woman who ran over her husband," Anantdeep Kang said. "Larissa said she would do it, too, if she could get away with it."

Schuster, a 47-year-old former Clovis biochemist, is accused of killing her husband, Timothy Schuster, and leaving his body in a barrel of acid in summer 2003. Her trial is being held in Los Angeles County because a judge ruled that local media attention made it too difficult to find an impartial jury in Fresno County.

[wind149]

As usual it is their own words that get them in the end. How many people did she tell that she wanted her husband dead? And with the 99% sure that it is Tim's body, this woman does not stand a chance in hell of not being a guest of the CA penal system for the rest of her life. What a loser and it was refreshing Toby to hear what she was like before she became the grand dame she portrayed herself to be and now by her own actions, the only person she is now is an inmate and having a LWPOP sentence over her head. Divorce would have been the better choice. She and Pam can both rot for the rest of their lives, too bad they are not "cellies" So they both can whine and snivel about the raw deals they both got. Two sociopaths, two evil women.

[TobyTiger]

As usual it is their own words that get them in the end. How many people did she tell that she wanted her husband dead? And with the 99% sure that it is Tim's body, this woman does not stand a chance in hell of not being a guest of the CA penal system for the rest of her life. What a loser and it was refreshing Toby to hear what she was like before she became the grand dame she portrayed herself to be and now by her own actions, the only person she is now is an inmate and having a LWPOP sentence over her head. Divorce would have been the better choice. She and Pam can both rot for the rest of their lives, too bad they are not "cellies" So they both can whine and snivel about the raw deals they both got. Two sociopaths, two evil women.
Two of the most common mistakes made by criminals who believe they are above the law: they can't stop talking and they involve another party in their crimes. Fortunately Larissa Schuster made both of them, to her own undoing.

[wind149]

So profound huh? And so true! While there have been some people like OJ who got away with murder, most of the killers since about the time it became a crime to kill someone have always hung themselves in some fashion. OJ might have gotten away with murder but by the looks of things with these new charges, here again, his own words are gonna strangle him. That was very smart on the part of those collectors, they sensed trouble and had the incentive to record his every word and for that I salute them! Pam 's own words came back to haunt her. I heard the tapes during the trial, plus it was on every station anyway ,and when she talked about how Cecelia needed to keep her mouth shut, her own mouth said "If you tell the cops anything, you will send us all to the blank slammer for the rest of our lives" That sunk her boat right there. The cops knew they were on the right track and isn't it ironic she tells Cecelia to shut up and it is her own words that get her and she has the gall to whine and snivel about how bad she has it behind bars. It is too bad they never sought the DP, I would have liked to have had her be the first woman executed in the state of NH.

[chambord]

Toby

Thanks for keeping us updated on this trial. I was unaware of it until Wind led me here, now I'm hooked. What a horrible death, its beyond my comprehension how someone could do what Larissa did to another human, let alone the father of her two children.

[TobyTiger]

Toby

Thanks for keeping us updated on this trial. I was unaware of it until Wind led me here, now I'm hooked. What a horrible death, its beyond my comprehension how someone could do what Larissa did to another human, let alone the father of her two children.
Good to see you chambord!

It is beyond comprehension to those of us who couldn't fathom the thought. However, she isn't your typical "loving mother" nor did she suffer years of abuse as some women who kill their husbands.

[wind149]

No she can't you guys! I just posted on the Smart case about how Pam owes a debt to the Smart family she can never repay. I truly believe she and this evil witch and Mary Winkler were never abused. But the difference here is Mary got a walk and and Pam didn't and this woman won't either.

[TobyTiger]

No she can't you guys! I just posted on the Smart case about how Pam owes a debt to the Smart family she can never repay. I truly believe she and this evil witch and Mary Winkler were never abused. But the difference here is Mary got a walk and and Pam didn't and this woman won't either.

It appears Mary's jurors were convinced that she had suffered abuse at the hands of her husband, whereas when a woman hires or otherwise engages a third party to commit the crime, there is little doubt that it is a cold-blooded pre-meditated murder. It also gives the defendant the opportunity to try to pass the buck, so to speak, onto that third party as the instigator...especially if they were involved in a relationship. It didn't work in Pam Smart's case and hopefully won't in this one either.

[TobyTiger]

MORE ANGRY VOICEMAILS (http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/174782.html)

VAN NUYS -- In late 2002, the ongoing divorce between Timothy and Larissa Schuster grew increasingly bitter. Caught in the middle was their 12-year-old son, Tyler. Near Thanksgiving, his mother left him this message:

"Hi Tyler, this is your mom. Give me a call on my cell phone. And I also want you to make sure that your dad takes you to my house at 6 o'clock tonight. And if he doesn't, then you ask him why he has changed the plans and what role he's playing in this, because I think it's important to know the little game he's playing. Because Kristin [Tyler's sister] understands. She knows what's going on. But your dad is digging a hole. So I need to make sure that you're at my house tonight at 6 o'clock.

"And if not, there will be some consequences that your dad will pay."

The voice mail, along with nearly two dozen others that Timothy Schuster recorded as evidence of his estranged wife's angry behavior before his death in July 2003, were played in a Los Angeles County courthouse Thursday.

more at the link

[TobyTiger]

DETAILED TESTIMONY FROM FRIDAY, OCT. 26:

SCHUSTER TRIAL BLOG: DAY 5 (http://www.ksee24.com/news/blog/10865836.html)

[TobyTiger]

GRAPHIC TESTIMONY IN SCHUSTER MURDER TRIAL (http://www.ksee24.com/news/local/10876356.html)

A breadstick dipped in water, that's how forensic pathologist Dr. Venu Gopal described the spinal cord and remains of Timothy Schuster.

He said the man who once stood more than 6 ft. tall, and weighed 220 lbs. was reduced to a mass of 103 lbs., in a large amount of hydrochloric acid.

The barrel containing Timothy Schuster's body was discovered in a storage unit. Authorities believe Timothy Schuster died at the hand of his estranged biochemist wife Larissa Schuster and her young former employee James Fagone.

They allegedly attacked the victim at his home, choloformed him, choked him out and then put his body in a barrel and poured acid inside.

During the trial, another deputy coroner testified. Jennifer Johnson said typically a body taken to the coroner's office for autopsy would be weighed, but the circumstgances in this case made the task nearly impossilbe.

On top of the condition of the body, those handling the remains weren't initially toldthe fluid in the barrel was acid. They started putting it down the drain.

Defense attorney Roger Nuttall suggested the coroner's office mishandled the case.

[SimplySue]

I live in Missouri and have known Larissa and her family (the Foreman family) for years. Her mother is the sweetest person you would ever want to meet....I feel so sorry for her, I know this has been so hard for her and she as really aged over the past 4 years. Her father seems to be a fairly nice guy, especially if you are female, but he has been known to hit his wife (Larissas' mother) and pretty much has a general reputation as being a jerk. She has an older brother that was quite older than I so I really don't know him as well. She had a younger brother who comitted suicide several years ago...he shot himself, but since she has done all this to her husband I am wondering now if it was suicide or if she just thought she could kill her brother and it would be one less person to share the family inheritance with. Her grandparents were known to have money and they raised and showed horses and were well known for their show quality horses. Her parents and family still farm, and her mother is a nurse at the local medical clinic. Through highschool Larissa always had that arogant, prissy, "I am better than you" attitude she always had to be #1 in everything. Even though what she did to Tim was a shock to a small town that watched her grow up..the fact that she could commit murder was no surprise...Larissa was all for Larissa and the almighty dollar no matter what the cost. She was so sure she would be able to use her money and her nose in the air attitude that she thought she could get away with murder. With all the evidence she left she might as well have drawn a map and wrote a confession. I hope she spends the rest of her life looking at 4 gray walls. She should have to have pictures of her husband, his acid eaten body and her children and family hanging on her walls to look at everyday and think of what she has done to them.

Another sociopath. I've read so much about them, but will never be able to grasp how indifferent they can be to another human being's agony. That poor mans last few moments of life must have seemed an eternity. :(

Thank you for posting the information. It's great to have someone that knows the background of these people! I hope you continue to keep us updated on what's going on with them. :beer:

[SimplySue]

http://www.horror.com/forum/archive/index.php?t-3733.html

A link to an old report, when the crime first happened. It states that Fagone said that Mr. Schuster may have been alive. :(

[awakening2lite]

MORE ANGRY VOICEMAILS (http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/174782.html)

VAN NUYS -- In late 2002, the ongoing divorce between Timothy and Larissa Schuster grew increasingly bitter. Caught in the middle was their 12-year-old son, Tyler. Near Thanksgiving, his mother left him this message:

"Hi Tyler, this is your mom. Give me a call on my cell phone. And I also want you to make sure that your dad takes you to my house at 6 o'clock tonight. And if he doesn't, then you ask him why he has changed the plans and what role he's playing in this, because I think it's important to know the little game he's playing. Because Kristin [Tyler's sister] understands. She knows what's going on. But your dad is digging a hole. So I need to make sure that you're at my house tonight at 6 o'clock.

"And if not, there will be some consequences that your dad will pay."

The voice mail, along with nearly two dozen others that Timothy Schuster recorded as evidence of his estranged wife's angry behavior before his death in July 2003, were played in a Los Angeles County courthouse Thursday.

more at the link

Hiya Tiger!

That woman sounds completely insane and not, at all, as smart as one would expect a qualified biochemist to be. imo

Great reporting, Toby!

[TobyTiger]

Hiya Tiger!

That woman sounds completely insane and not, at all, as smart as one would expect a qualified biochemist to be. imo

Great reporting, Toby!
Greetings! Glad to see you're here.

She certainly doesn't appear to be intelligent by leaving such a long trail of evidence against her, i.e. open conversations with her manicurist and others whereby she speaks of disposing of her estranged husband and most of all, involving another person in the crime.

[TobyTiger]

TIMOTHY SCHUSTER'S BODY WAS SEVERED, DEFENSE SAYS (http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/177774.html)

VAN NUYS -- Larissa Schuster's defense lawyer said in her murder trial Monday that he believes Schuster's estranged husband, Timothy, could have been cut in half before his body was placed in a barrel later filled with hydrochloric acid. That theory was attorney Roger Nuttall's strongest argument thus far in the trial to show that someone other than his client killed Timothy Schuster.

Nuttall said in an interview before the trial began this month that James Fagone, at the time a 21-year-old man who had worked at Schuster's research lab in Fresno, killed Timothy Schuster in the summer of 2003 either by himself or with the help of friends. He said he believes Fagone later lied to police, telling them that Larissa Schuster, a Clovis biochemist, murdered her husband while he watched in horror.

As proof that Fagone may have lied, Nuttall is arguing that Timothy Schuster's body was cut in half just above the abdomen before it was placed in a 55-gallon barrel. In videotaped interviews with police, Fagone says the body was simply stuffed in the barrel but not cut. A contradiction between Fagone's story and evidence of a severed body, if it is to be believed, could lead jurors to doubt Fagone's credibility and suggest he may have been trying to cover his true role in the murder, Nuttall has said.

But at this point in the trial, which on Monday began its second week of testimony from prosecution witnesses, jurors have heard little about Fagone other than an occasional reference to a young baby sitter who watched over Schuster's 12-year-old son, Tyler.

more at the link

[TobyTiger]

TRIAL UPDATES 10/30/07 (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/178127.html)

2:59 p.m.: VAN NUYS -- A chemist who worked at Larissa Schuster's research lab in Fresno testified this afternoon that Schuster once told her that she wished her estranged husband "would just crawl away somewhere and die."

The chemist, Leslie Fichera, also said Schuster was frustrated that as part of her divorce proceedings with Timothy Schuster, there was a good chance her husband would get half of the appraised value of her business, Central California Research Laboratories.

"It was her business, she knew the clients, she brought in the work, she did the work," Fichera said. "She felt it was her company."



11:34 a.m.: Pat Fitzpatrick, one of Larissa Schuster's former neighbors, testified in Schuster's murder trial this morning that the 47-year-old former Clovis biochemist told him three days after her husband went missing that she had recently broken a bone in her wrist, had injured her shoulder and had a large bruise on her right arm – all for unrelated reasons.

Fitzpatrick, who happened to be on the same flight to Texas as Schuster on July 13, 2003, also said Schuster told him on the plane that she had gone to her research lab in Fresno at 3 a.m. that day to pick up some belongings she had forgotten. Prosecutors say Schuster actually went to the lab that same morning to move a 55-gallon barrel that contained the remains of her husband, Timothy Schuster, floating in acid.

[frommissouri]

Greed and selfishness was her motivation....she has always thought she was so great and apparently thought she was above the law, and thought her money would get her out of it. I would like to know how much the editor of her hometown newspaper was paid to keep it out of the local hometown news. Absolutely nothing has been in the local newspaper or on the local news about her trial. In a small town your name and money has a lot of pull.....I hope California is different, and she is found guilty and rots in prison.

[TobyTiger]

Greed and selfishness was her motivation....she has always thought she was so great and apparently thought she was above the law, and thought her money would get her out of it. I would like to know how much the editor of her hometown newspaper was paid to keep it out of the local hometown news. Absolutely nothing has been in the local newspaper or on the local news about her trial. In a small town your name and money has a lot of pull.....I hope California is different, and she is found guilty and rots in prison.
Fresno County has a population slightly over 1 million and we were unable to seat a jury here. The trial is being held in Los Angeles County...so I doubt the jurors will be impressed with her accomplishments (business-wise) or what she earned.

[TobyTiger]

SCHUSTER LAB WORKERS RELAY SUSPICIONS IN HINDSIGHT (http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/179725.html)

10/31/07 23:34:26


VAN NUYS -- He thought it was a joke.

Joseph Boatwright, who worked at a research lab in Fresno owned by Larissa Schuster, recalled one day in April 2003 when she pointed out a blue, 55-gallon barrel that had recently arrived at the lab. She asked him: "Hey, do you think a body would fit in that barrel?"

Unsure how to respond, he just laughed, Boatwright testified in Schuster's murder trial Wednesday.

But a few months later, Schuster's estranged husband, Timothy Schuster, was reported missing.

Boatwright and his wife, who also worked at the lab, began to wonder about the angry comments Schuster had made about her husband. They wondered whether Schuster hadn't been joking.

Megan Boatwright, who also testified Wednesday, said that four days after Timothy Schuster disappeared, she noticed that the blue barrel was gone.

Later that day, police discovered what appeared to be the same barrel. It had been moved to a storage unit Schuster leased under the name of another employee. It contained the remains of Timothy Schuster in hydrochloric acid.

The Boatwrights also joined other witnesses who have said that the angry comments Schuster made about her husband -- whom she was divorcing -- were often disturbing, but never taken too seriously.

Schuster, a 47-year-old former biochemist from Clovis, is being tried in a Los Angeles County courthouse. She is accused of murdering her husband, stuffing his body in a barrel and filling it with acid. Her attorney, Roger Nuttall, has said his client was not involved in the killing.

Looking back, Joseph Boatwright recalled what he now sees as warning signs.

Sometime between when he started working at the lab in November 2002 and Timothy Schuster's death in July 2003, he said, he heard Larissa Schuster say of her husband: "If I could kill and get away with it, I would."

At another point, Boatwright said, Schuster asked him whether he knew anyone who could beat up or murder her husband.

But at the time, Schuster sounded as though she was joking, Boatwright said. He said he "just laughed it off."

The blue barrel itself, however, seemed out of place to the lab's employees. Unlike all the other barrels used at the lab to dispose of chemical waste, this one had a lid that could be sealed shut, the Boatwrights testified. All the other barrels had a lid with two holes in them -- one for pouring in waste and the other for ventilation. Joseph Boatwright said that when he asked Schuster why the barrel was there, she said it was for yard clippings.

The bottles of chloroform seen in the lab shortly before Timothy Schuster's death also were odd, Megan Boatwright said. She said the agriculture research lab never used chloroform to conduct tests of soil samples.

Prosecutors say Larissa Schuster and her accomplice, James Fagone, at the time a 21-year-old former lab employee, used chloroform to knock out Timothy Schuster before putting him in a barrel. Earlier this week, a pathologist testified that toxic levels of chloroform were discovered in Timothy Schuster's remains.

more at the link

[TobyTiger]

PHONE CONVERSATION AT CENTER OF SCHUSTER TRIAL (http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=5740340)

11/02/07 - A man says Larissa Schuster offered him money to help in what is now a notorious murder.

Action news court reporter Andres Araiza is live in Van Nuys where the case is being tried with the damaging testimony.

The prosecution has one more day of witnesses.

Then they will rest their case against Larissa Schuster.

Today we heard testimony from Larissa's best friend.

But the most damaging came from a man who installed a BBQ pit in Larissa's home.

In the same month that Tim Schuster's body was discovered.

Carlos Jimenez testified he worked at Larissa's Clovis home.

Jimenez said Larissa made a chilling offer.

Carlos Jimenez: "she wanted me to go over there and knock on his door she wanted me to stun him to the ground with a stun gun and flag her down a couple of homes ... Where she is going to be staying in a car. And at that time she would come get what she needed to get."

Jimenez said no.

But investigators say James Fagone and Larissa followed through with the plan.

Last year a jury already convicted Fagone.

Larissa is now being tried for murdering her husband and submerging his body in a barrel of acid.

Earlier in the day Larissa's best friend took the stand saying she cooperated with authorities while Larissa was on the run.

Tammi Belshay agreed to a tape recordered conversation with Larissa.

It was played for jurors.

more at the link

[TobyTiger]

TRIAL NOTES 11/02/07 (http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=5740339)

11/02/07 - Larissa Schuster walked into court at 9:33 AM. She sat down, and two rows behind her in the gallery, her mother and father sat.

They said nothing and expressed no outward emotion as their daughter readied for another day in court.

Her parents are from Missouri and declined to talk with the media.

Larissa's parents sat just two seats from Tim's mother: Shirely Schuster.

None of them appeared to communicate in the court room nor did they express animosity toward each other.

During the first break in court, Larissa walked back into her cell ...waiving goodbye and blowing a kiss to her parents.

Clovis Detective Tommy Lee Harris was the first to testify.

He went to Missouri to arrest Larissa while she was on vacation.

Harris said Larissa cooperated with authorities and waived her right to an extradition hearing.

Tammi Belshay was the second witness on the stand.

Belshay testified about her decade long friendship with Larissa.

Belshay took Larissa to the Clovis Police Department when investigators conducted their first interview with the defendant.

Belshay said she noticed something strange about her friend: missing acrylic finger nails.

According to Belshay, Larissa maintained a weekly appointment with a manicurist to keep her nails pristine. But two days after Tim disappeared, the nails were gone.

Other witnesses today:

*Roger Smith- He's a friend of Larissa.

He said Larissa and Tim were going through a contentious divorce, and Tim wanted $1,000,000 for his share of the Larissa's laboratory.

* Carlos Jimenez- He worked at BBQ Galore installing equipment.

Jimenez installed equipment at Larissa's house.

He said Larissa offered him $1,500 to harm her husband.

[chriscollins101]

Hi "frommissouri," this is Chris Collins from the Fresno Bee. I was wondering if you could contact me at ccollins@fresnobee.com when you get a chance. I'm covering Schuster's trial right now and would be interested in hearing from people who knew her from back when. We could just talk on background, and not for the record, if you prefer. Thanks,
-Chris

[TobyTiger]

WITNESS: SCHUSTER WANTED RESTRICTIONS ON HUSBAND (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/183437.html)

VAN NUYS –- A woman who was in a church choir with Larissa Schuster testified this morning in Schuster's murder trial that Schuster repeatedly said she did not want her estranged husband, Timothy Schuster, to have even partial custody of their son, then 12, or any share of their jointly owned agriculture research lab in Fresno.

"Tim was never going to get anything she had," said Nancy Wright, who went to Hope Lutheran Church in Fresno with Larissa Schuster. "She said that she was going to keep everything related to the business."

more at the link

Thanks, Chris!

[Jeek]

I just want to toss out a quick question for anyone following this trial...what do you think the outcome will be?

[TobyTiger]

I just want to toss out a quick question for anyone following this trial...what do you think the outcome will be?
GUILTY....Murder One.

[Jeek]

wow...I sure hope so but I don't know.

With everything circumstantial, and a kid that has already admitted to killing Tim, while she will surely have to admit some level of complicity, Murder 1 I think may be a stretch. Reasonable doubt...that's all he has to do.

At what point are there enough witnesses that will testify that she was a nutjob that wanted her husband dead? Would it have helped the prosecution to bring up witnesses that would point out that she told different people slightly different things?

I don't mean these as rhetorical...I am being sincere. Would the above have helped in your opinion, or would it just be overkill on the jury? More ppl. saying the same type thing?

[TobyTiger]

wow...I sure hope so but I don't know.

With everything circumstantial, and a kid that has already admitted to killing Tim, while she will surely have to admit some level of complicity, Murder 1 I think may be a stretch. Reasonable doubt...that's all he has to do.

At what point are there enough witnesses that will testify that she was a nutjob that wanted her husband dead? Would it have helped the prosecution to bring up witnesses that would point out that she told different people slightly different things?

I don't mean these as rhetorical...I am being sincere. Would the above have helped in your opinion, or would it just be overkill on the jury? More ppl. saying the same type thing?
Yes James Fagone has been convicted, however he did not admit to acting alone in the murder of Timothy Schuster and it was never the State's position that he did act alone.

First-degree murder is a premeditated killing, which this was.

For the State's case in chief, I believe the point was made that it was Larissa Schuster's desire to have Timothy dead. Whatever witnesses and testimony are brought in during the defense case, they can be rebutted by further witnesses for the State, to reinforce the State's position.

[TobyTiger]

SURPRISING ADMISSION IN SCHUSTER MURDER TRIAL (http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=5747000)

11/06/2007 - After more than a week of damaging testimony from prosecution witnesses, lawyers for Larissa Schuster have begun trying to convince jurors she is not responsible for her husband's murder.

A surprising admission in court Tuesday as Larissa Schuster's attorney revealed how he will defend the Clovis chemist accused of murder.
The defense admitted Larissa Schuster made a series of bad decisions. Her attorney said, No Larissa did not murder her estranged husband. But yes, Larissa helped in the gruesome disposal of Tim Schuster's body.

The defense first painted a happy all American portrait of Larissa and Tim Schuster. They married young and worked hard. But the marriage fell apart. Her Attorney Roger Nuttall couldn't say how or when Tim died. He blamed it on James Fagone, a man already convicted of the murder.

Nuttall said Fagone at first stored the body at Larissa's home. "All she could think about was her husband is dead& not of her doing ... Not what she wanted... His body in whatever context is out in this shed."

Nuttall plans to call several of Fagone's friends who will say Fagone wanted to kill Tim Schuster.

"He would tell his these friends he wanted to hurt him in various ways because of the way Tim treated Larissa from his perception," says Nuttall.

Nuttall's first witness didn't want his face shown. William Lehman, defense witness, says "I would have liked to see the front door dusted at least."

William Lehman is a retired investigator hired by the defense. Lehman poked holes in the prosecution's case saying investigators missed vital clues.

One of the witnesses scheduled for Wednesday is a doctor who is expected to say acid did not destroy Tim's body; it was mutilated.

The defense also assured jurors Larissa will testify. She could take the stand by the end of this week.

[frommissouri]

I hope that jury is smart enough to see that her lawyer is grasping at straws. He knows the evidence is against her so he is willing to admit she helped to move the body and hide the body...just to keep her from spending the rest of her life in prison. He is painting a picture that she grew up in a happy, all American mid-western small town farm farmily...oh yeah it was so happy that her mother wore bruises that everybody knew was made by her father...and her younger brother comitted suicide, although since she murdered her husband there are some that are now wondering if that was suicide or murder..there was for sure talk at the time that questioned that it was suicide, but she WASN'T the one mentioned that might have done it, but thinking back, believe me it has people thinking. I hope she gets everything she deserves...ANYBODY that does kills someone should be punished, but especially under such gruesome circumstances. I DON'T HAVE ANY ANAMOSITY AGAINST LARISSA OR HER FAMILY...IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO DONE IT...THEY NEED TO BE PUNISHED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT. I just think with all the evidence that she was the mastermind and she done it and needed help so she enlisted the help of Fagone and he was threatened and was too scared that the same thing would happen to him (and it probably would have) if he didn't go along with her. She should rot in prison....AGAIN, I really feel sorry for her mother and her maternal grandmother...

[TobyTiger]

EX-CORONER: HALF OF TIMOTHY SCHUSTER'S BODY MISSING (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/185634.html)

VAN NUYS -- A forensic pathologist testifying for the defense in Larissa Schuster's murder trial said this morning that, based on his review of autopsy documents, it is clear the body of Schuster's husband, Timothy Schuster, was cut in half before the lower half was placed in a 55-gallon barrel later filled with acid.

"My question is, where is the rest of the body?" asked Dr. Paul Herrmann, a former Alameda County coroner.

Defense attorney Roger Nuttall says his theory that the body was severed before it was placed in the barrel proves there was a bloody crime scene police never found -- and one that could have shown someone other than Larissa Schuster committed the murder.

more at the link

Thanks, Chris!

[TobyTiger]

I just think with all the evidence that she was the mastermind and she done it and needed help so she enlisted the help of Fagone and he was threatened and was too scared that the same thing would happen to him (and it probably would have) if he didn't go along with her. She should rot in prison....AGAIN, I really feel sorry for her mother and her maternal grandmother...
I believe this is a completely accurate assessment of Fagone's role. He is also her scapegoat to pass the blame onto now.

My condolences also to all innocent family members who didn't ask for any of this to happen...especially the two children.

[chambord]

Thanks to Toby and all keeping me up with this trial, I sure wish it was televised as the ability to watch the actual testimony is not the same as reading the printed word. I usually try not to jump to conclusions, but in this case, I see a guilty accused.

moo

[EMB]

James Fagone never admitted to killing Tim Schuster. He only admitted to being there during the crime, and I wish they had his testimony. According to him, she told him to go make sure the side bedroom window was closed so no one would hear, when he came back into the room she already had a plastic bag around his head with a rag in his mouth.

[EMB]

according to James' testimony they had robbed the house once before about a year before. Then she wanted to do it again, this time with him there so that it would be the "ultimate humiliation" for him - having this happen while he was there watching. So the plan was to meet him at the front door by saying their son was ill, and when he opened the door, James jumped him and blasted him with the stun gun. Then they were to wrestle Tim to the floor, tye-wrap him and let him watch while the place was ransacked. According to James' own testimony, that is all the foreknowledge he had. So like I said in the last post, once they had him on the floor, evil Larissa told James to go check for some open windows and take a quick peek out the front curtains, and when James came back to the kitchen, the deed was already done.

James said that she threatened him into cooperation and once it had reached this point, he helped her load the body into the truck and take it to her house to be put into the blue barrel, where according to James he assisted her in the pouring of the acid.

This is all on the court report, and I'm not certain but I think it's public domain, and can be requested from Fresno County.

[TobyTiger]

Thanks to Toby and all keeping me up with this trial, I sure wish it was televised as the ability to watch the actual testimony is not the same as reading the printed word. I usually try not to jump to conclusions, but in this case, I see a guilty accused.

moo

Greetings, chambord!

There are cameras inside the courtroom and video clips of the trial can be seen on the local news channels. Perhaps if CTV is still around at some time in the future they will air it?
:shrug:

Needless to say, I concur with your verdict!

[TobyTiger]

James Fagone never admitted to killing Tim Schuster. He only admitted to being there during the crime, and I wish they had his testimony. According to him, she told him to go make sure the side bedroom window was closed so no one would hear, when he came back into the room she already had a plastic bag around his head with a rag in his mouth.

I agree that it is unfortunate this jury cannot hear James Fagone's testimony. Hopefully they won't buy the defense proferring that he mutilated Tim's body before placing "part" of it in the barrel. I believe this horrendous murder was the master plan of only one person...Larissa Schuster and not James Fagone.

[TobyTiger]

EXPERT: PHONE RECORDS MAY NOT PROVE SCHUSTER'S LOCATION (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/186456.html)

VAN NUYS -– A telecommunications expert testified this morning in Larissa Schuster's murder trial that the prosecution should not have relied on cell-phone tower records to determine where Schuster may have traveled in the days before she is alleged to have killed her estranged husband in July 2003.

"We have to be careful when we interpret the location information, because the cellular telephone may not be communicating with a particular tower," said Allan Thompson, a private consultant who testified for the defense. "In some cases, a cellular telephone is not using the closest tower."

more at the link

Thanks, Chris!

[TobyTiger]

WITNESS: SCHUSTER OBSESSED WITH HUSBAND'S "FLAWS" (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/187429.html)

VAN NUYS -- A psychiatrist who examined Larissa Schuster in jail in the fall 2003 testified in Schuster's murder trial this morning that she appeared distracted and obsessed with talking about the "petty flaws" of her late husband, Timothy Schuster, who she is accused of murdering.

"They were difficult examinations," Stephen Estner, a private psychiatrist, testified for the defense. "It was hard for me to impose a structure in terms of a coherent history of what was going on. Ms. Schuster was very distracted, and seemed to be providing me with petty flaws of Mr. Schuster."

Estner said he was confused by Schuster's comments during his examination, because he knew Timothy Schuster was dead and didn't understand why Larissa Schuster kept complaining about him.


more at the link
Thanks, Chris!

[pearyb]

Actually what I was referring to was the evil nature inside both Schuster and Smart to plot their husbands' demise, and both using a young man to assist them with the deed.

The comparison between Schuster and Wuornos was basically the hardened exterior which gives the jury their first impression of the defendant. They don't have anything in common in their backgrounds or what led them to commit murder.

What does a hardened exterior look like? Can you simply brush it away with a comb? A little cometic make-up, once daily used by the defendent, becomes a back-up for zoloft and allows the defendent personal hygiene. The courts are filled with psychological nightmares and this is one of them.

[TobyTiger]

PSYCHIATRIST SAYS SCHUSTER HAD BATTERED SPOUSE SYNDROME (http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/188077.html)

VAN NUYS -- Larissa Schuster was a victim of battered spouse syndrome brought on by years of nonviolent, passive-aggressive harassment by her husband, a psychiatrist testified Friday in Schuster's murder trial.

Defense attorney Roger Nuttall says that explains the repeated angry threats Schuster, a 47-year-old former biochemist from Clovis, made about her estranged husband in the year before his murder.

Timothy Schuster, a timid, 45-year-old manager at Saint Agnes Medical Center, steered clear of confrontation, kept a detailed journal of his wife's every move, and withheld physical affection, said Stephen Estner, a private psychiatrist hired by Nuttall who interviewed Larissa Schuster and her parents.

Estner said Schuster's angry threats amounted to nothing more than "passive homicidality" -- empty words with no true murderous intent behind them.

"I thought the passive wishes she had that he was dead was a way of escaping the relationship," Estner said. "I doubt there is anyone who hasn't wished someone was dead at some point."

When Estner first interviewed Schuster in jail shortly after her arrest in July 2003, Schuster seemed only interested in talking about how her dead husband had wronged her.

more at the link

[EMB]

That's the biggest crock I've heard yet. She is no different than the high school kids that my wife teaches..... everything is someone elses fault and they dont want to take responsibility for their own actions of feelings. One difference of course - they havent killed anyone.

[TobyTiger]

That's the biggest crock I've heard yet. She is no different than the high school kids that my wife teaches..... everything is someone elses fault and they dont want to take responsibility for their own actions of feelings. One difference of course - they havent killed anyone.

Totally agree. Blaming the victim is even more egregious in this case as Timothy was anything but abusive...and Larissa was, and still is, a domineering force.

[TobyTiger]

PSYCHIATRIST: SCHUSTER'S STRESS LED TO HAIR LOSS, HEART ILLS (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/190935.html)

VAN NUYS -- A psychiatrist testified this morning in Larissa Schuster's murder trial that Schuster was so stressed out in the two years before her husband's murder in July 2003 that the anxiety manifested itself in physical symptoms such as heart arrhythmia and hair loss.

"I found Ms. Schuster was under such an enormous amount of stress that she was actually suffering physical trauma," said Stephen Estner, a private psychiatrist hired by the defense. "I would describe it as an abnormal psychological state."

Schuster could take the witness stand this afternoon, depending on how testimony proceeds this morning and early in the afternoon.

more at the link

[TobyTiger]

SCHUSTER: FAGONE TOLD ME HE KILLED MY HUSBAND (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/196194.html)

5:23 p.m.: VAN NUYS -- Larissa Schuster described in detail this afternoon how she says James Fagone, a former employee at a research lab she owned, confessed to her late one night in July 2003 that he had murdered her husband, Timothy Schuster.

"I heard him saying something like, 'There had been an accident' and 'Tim was dead' and 'they had killed him,'" Schuster said toward the end of her daylong testimony today. "I thought he was joking. I thought it was a joke -- it was a sick joke at that. And then I learned that I had heard him right. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This was a nightmare. It couldn't be happening."

Schuster said Fagone told her he had put her husband's body in a shed beside her Clovis house. Schuster testified that she panicked and, instead of calling police, told Fagone to move the body away from her house.

Fagone was convicted last December for first-degree murder after telling police he and Schuster robbed and kidnapped her husband, and that Schuster poured acid over her husband’s body after they stuffed it in a barrel.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2:50 p.m.: Larissa Schuster testified in her own defense this afternoon that she made numerous angry calls to her estranged husband in 2002 in which she called him derogatory names and threatened him. She said she now regrets making the calls.
"I'm not proud of them," she said, but added that she was frustrated at the time because her husband refused to communicate with her.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:35 a.m.: Larissa Schuster took the witness stand in her own defense this morning amid high security in the Los Angeles County courthouse where her trial is being held.
Less than one minute into questioning, defense attorney Roger Nuttall asked Schuster: "Did you kill your husband?" Without hesitation, Schuster replied, "No, I did not kill my husband."

Just as Schuster began her testimony, family members of convicted co-defendant James Fagone walked into the courtroom. Less than 20 minutes later, the judge ordered everyone out of the courtroom. A minute later, everyone was allowed back in and members of the media and Fagone’s family were searched by a metal detector. No one was banned from the courtroom.

Court officials declined to comment on what prompted the judge to take such action.

more at the link

[TobyTiger]

SCHUSTER ADMITS TO SEARCHING FOR 'ACID' ON THE INTERNET (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/199843.html)

4:04 p.m.: VAN NUYS -- Larissa Schuster testified this afternoon that she searched the words "acid," "digest" and "animal tissue" on Google one month before she allegedly murdered her husband and left his body in a barrel of acid because she was looking for information about cleaning glassware instruments at her lab.

"I was looking for additional information about removing organic or inorganic material," she testified.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11:17 a.m.: VAN NUYS -- Larissa Schuster testified this morning in her own defense that she agreed to help James Fagone, her son's babysitter, move her husband's body after Fagone confessed to killing him one night in July 2003.

She said that after Fagone moved the body to her research lab, she rented a U-Haul truck so Fagone and his accomplices could move the body, which had been placed in a barrel of acid, to her storage unit.

"He did mention that he didn't really know where to take it, and I suggested that temporarily -- and only temporarily -- he could move it to my storage unit," Schuster testified. "And he had to promise me he would move it to somewhere where no one would find it."

more at the link

[TobyTiger]

PROSECUTION QUESTIONS SCHUSTER (http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/201231.html)

VAN NUYS -- The questions kept coming.

Why did you order gallons and gallons of acid?

What was the blue barrel for?

Why did you search for "acid," "digest" and "animal tissue" on the Internet a month before your husband's murder?

Larissa Schuster, under questioning from prosecutor Dennis Peterson on Thursday, had answers for all of them.

The acid was for a massive cleaning project to wipe away residue on the hundreds of glassware beakers and bottles in her research lab.

The barrel was mistakenly ordered, but she never got around to returning it.

And the Google search? She was looking up information on how to effectively clean the glassware.

Schuster, a 47-year-old former biochemist from Clovis accused of murdering her husband in July 2003 and disposing of his body in a barrel of acid, was on the witness stand for a second full day Thursday.

But it was the first day she was questioned by the prosecution.

She explained earlier in the day, while still being examined by her defense attorney, that she helped James Fagone -- her son's 21-year-old baby-sitter and a former lab employee -- hide her husband's body after Fagone told her he had killed Timothy Schuster.

Fearing she would become a suspect in her husband's death if she reported the killing -- and certain it would interfere with her planned vacation with her son the next day -- Larissa Schuster says she told Fagone to move the body away from the storage shed near her house where he said he had left it.

But when Fagone told her he moved it to her lab, Schuster testified, she told him that was unacceptable.

On the evening of July 12, 2003, Schuster said, she went to her lab to meet Fagone and found "a couple of other individuals with him" -- apparently accomplices, though she didn't elaborate.

Schuster testified that when Fagone said he didn't know what to do with the body, which was now in a 55-gallon barrel filled with acid, "I suggested that temporarily -- and only temporarily -- he could move it to my storage unit."

But, Schuster said, she told Fagone, "He had to promise me he would move it to somewhere where no one would find it" while Schuster went on her two-week vacation. Schuster said she rented a U-Haul truck so Fagone could move her husband's body.

Schuster testified that she had a good reason for ordering 18 bottles of hydrochloric acid and six bottles of sulfuric acid -- 2 1/2 liters in each bottle -- in the month before her husband's murder.

Prior to that, records show, she had never ordered more than two bottles of acid in a year.

Schuster explained that since she started her lab in 1997, she had not thoroughly cleaned her glassware with acid -- a process she said is essential to ensuring beakers and bottles used for tests are not contaminated.

Schuster's lab worked with agricultural samples, such as soil and vegetation, and tested products, such as pesticides, that were seeking approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"We didn't do that every year or month. It's an occasional procedure," she said. "It is a fairly time-consuming procedure."

Neil Schore, a professor of chemistry at the University of California at Davis who is not involved in Schuster's trial, told The Bee in an interview Thursday that hydrochloric acid sometimes is used to clean trace metal residues from lab equipment. But he also said that labs usually use a base solution to thoroughly clean glassware.

"Nobody I know in this department buys jugs of hydrochloric acid to clean glassware," he said.

continued at the link

[TobyTiger]

JUROR VERY IMPRESSED WITH SCHUSTER'S TESTIMONY (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/202325.html)

VAN NUYS -- A juror in Larissa Schuster’s murder trial told the judge this morning she was "very impressed with Ms. Schuster’s response and intelligence" from her testimony Wednesday and Thursday.

Judge Wayne Ellison of Fresno County Superior Court brought the juror in by herself this morning after it was reported to him that the juror had given a thumbs-up signal to Schuster during a break in the testimony.

Asked whether she had given a thumbs-up to Schuster, the juror replied, "I did. I was very impressed with Ms. Schuster's response and intelligence, and I just felt very compelled to let her know that I felt she had thought through her responses and was very straightforward, and I was commending her for her intelligence and how she had handled herself in the jury box."

Although prosecutor Dennis Peterson sought to have the juror removed, Ellison ruled she could remain on the panel.

[Robyn]

This is quite a story. All this is happening right down the street from me in Van Nuys. Amazing.

[TobyTiger]

This is quite a story. All this is happening right down the street from me in Van Nuys. Amazing.
Welcome!

You should drop in on the trial after the Holiday! The State will continue its cross-examination of the defendant.

[TobyTiger]

The trial resumed today...

SCHUSTER FACES TOUGH QUESTIONS DURING MURDER TRIAL (http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=5781156)

11/26/2007 - The Clovis chemist is on trial for murdering her husband Tim Schuster. Larissa Schuster's feelings towards the victim was at the center of Monday's cross examination.

Larissa is sticking to her story that convicted murder James Fagone killed Tim Schuster. But she helped dispose of the body.
Larissa admitted she harbored strong, negative feelings toward her former husband Tim.

Jurors already heard the animosity captured in tape recorded phone messages left by the defendant where she insults the victim. Prosecutor Dennis Peterson highlighted Larissa's feelings.

Those feelings-the prosecutor believes-motivated Larissa to kill Tim, with the help of convicted murder James Fagone.

Fagone testified last year during his trial he used a stun gun to subdue the victim.

In court Peterson asked Larissa, "You never solicited James Fagone to talk to friends about robbing or chloroforming or using a stun gun against Tim Schuster?" Larissa replied, "Absolutely not, I did not solicit James Fagone to do that."

In the summer of 2003 investigators found Tim's body stuffed inside a blue barrel floating in acid. Larissa blamed Fagone for that part of the crime. But the prosecutor questioned Larissa, "Why did you order 3 cases of hydrochloric acid a few weeks before Tim was murdered."

Larissa testified, "At some point I realized I was going to need more to obtain the volume I was going to need to clean the specified glass wear that I intended to clean."

Larissa Schuster will retake the witness stand Tuesday.

more at the link

[TobyTiger]

LARISSA SCHUSTER GETS EMOTIONAL ON WITNESS STAND (http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=5787419)

11/27/2007 - A draining day inside the courtroom for Larissa Schuster as she finished telling jurors her side of the story. The Clovis chemist is on trial for murder her husband Tim Schuster in July 2003.

During her testimony she expressed very little outward emotion. Tuesday, the prosecutor continued asking Larissa about payments she made to James Fagone.

The prosecution's theory is Larissa talked Fagone into helping kill her husband Tim.

The prosecutor highlighted that theory by showing jurors Larissa gave Fagone $2,000 weeks before Tim was murdered.

A jury already convicted Fagone last year of killing Tim.

Larissa didn't get emotional talking about those details; but she cried when her attorney asked the defendant to discuss her relationship with her mother.

"She is my mother and I consider her my best friend. I've always felt I can talk to her about anything that was affecting me or anything that was going on in my life. That's how I saw her most of the time& Was my best, best friend," Larissa testified.

Wednesday, the defense is expected to rest its case by calling Larissa's parents. Then the prosecution will call a few witnesses. Both sides expect the jury to begin deliberating by next week.

more at the link

[TobyTiger]

DEFENDANT BROUGHT TO TEARS (http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=5790595)

11/28/2007 - Larissa Schuster is on trial in Van Nuys for murdering her husband in Fresno. Today, her mother was on the witness stand.

The defendant's mother has attended nearly every day of the trial.

On the witness stand she called her daughter her best friend.

Larissa Schuster watched as her mother Deeanne Foreman swore to tell the truth.

Foreman recalled the day her daughter was arrested while on vacation.

Schuster was in Saint Louis Missouri.

Authorities told foreman her daughter was accused of murdering Tim Schuster.

Deeanne Foreman, defendant's mother: "That was unbelievable. So I said where is Tyler. He said, we'll have to talk with family services and I'm thinking oh my gosh, we're in Saint Louis county and they've got Tyler!"

The defendant became emotional at the mention of her son Tyler.

Deeanne Foreman, defendant's mother: "She said take good care of Tyler and of course we told each other we loved each other."

At that point, Schuster fought back more tears.

But her sadness was brief.

The mood shifted as foreman testified about her daughter's state of mind the days after the victim died.

Deeanne Foreman, defendant's mother: "She seemed very agitated. She told she was fearful that she was being followed by police. And her phones might be bugged."

Larissa Schuster previously testified when James Fagone told her he murdered Tim Schuster She didn't call authorities.

The main reason she said she wasn't thinking clearly.

Andres Araiza, action news: "We also heard testimony the defendant's son now lives with his grandparents.

"On Thursday Larissa Schuster's father is expected to testify in his daughter's defense.

"The prosecution has a few more witnesses to call before this case goes to the jury.

[Seashell]

OMG that poor man :(
i was sickened by the way he died and i cant even imagine the pain he must have gone through dear gawd how terrible...
she sounds a cold hearted selfish b**** ungratefull as well as full of herself!!

[TobyTiger]

OMG that poor man :(
i was sickened by the way he died and i cant even imagine the pain he must have gone through dear gawd how terrible...
she sounds a cold hearted selfish b**** ungratefull as well as full of herself!!

Excellent assessment of her character, in my opinion.

[TobyTiger]

FAGONE'S FATHER TAKES THE STAND... (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/234101.html)

5:03 p.m.: VAN NUYS -- Anthony Fagone, father of James Fagone, testified his son did not keep the key to Larissa Schuster's home, as she had testified, but had to borrow the key each time he was employed to baby-sit Schuster's young son.

James Fagone was found guilty last year for his role in the murder of Timothy Schuster, Larissa Schuster's estranged husband.

Anthony Fagone's testimony occurred when the jury was outside the courtroom, and Judge Wayne Ellison ruled the testimony would not be admitted into evidence.

The trial, which has concluded for the day, will be off Friday and resume Monday morning with testimony from Anthony Fagone.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3:28 p.m.: Neil Schore, a professor of chemistry at the University of California at Davis, testified in Larissa Schuster’s murder trial this afternoon that Schuster would have needed less than two bottles of hydrochloric acid and less than one bottle of sulfuric acid to clean all the glassware in her lab in Fresno. Schuster has testified that she bought 18 bottles of hydrochloric acid and six bottles of sulfuric acid in the month before her husband's murder. She says the acid was needed to conduct a thorough cleaning of her lab equipment.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:40 a.m.: Charles Foreman, the father of Larissa Schuster, testified in his daughter's murder trial this morning that after Schuster was arrested in July 2003, he cleaned out her Clovis home's garage and found a green trash bin, blue tarp and blue storage bins inside.
The defense hopes Foreman's testimony will help explain testimony from one of Schuster's neighbors that she saw Schuster move around a blue barrel in her garage in the weeks before her husband's death.

more at the link

[TobyTiger]

The prosecution continues with their rebuttal...

JURORS SHOWN PHOTOS OF TIMOTHY SCHUSTER'S BODY (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/241172.html)

12/03/07


5:06 p.m.: VAN NUYS -- Jurors in Larissa Schuster's trial today were shown for the first time autopsy photos of Timothy Schuster's body before it was removed from a barrel partly filled with acid, along with images taken later with the body on an examining table.

There was little reaction, although one juror appeared to wipe away a tear and at least one gasped audibly when the photos were displayed on a projector screen in the courtroom.

Court ended today at 4:30 p.m. and will resume Tuesday with further testimony from Dr. Venu Gopal, the pathologist from the Fresno County Coroner's Office who examined Schuster's remains.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3:04 p.m.: Julie Adams, a woman who used to work under Larissa Schuster at a Madera lab in the 1990s, testified in Schuster's trial this afternoon that organic chemistry labs -- such as the one Schuster later ran in Fresno -- never used hydrochloric acid to clean glassware.

Schuster says she purchased 18 bottles of hydrochloric acid and six bottles of sulfuric acid in the month before her estranged husband's death in July 2003 to clean glassware at her lab in Fresno.

But Adams testified that in her 20 years in the chemistry industry, she has never seen anyone use acid to clean glassware.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:42 a.m.: Anthony Fagone, the father of James Fagone, testified this morning in Larissa Schuster's murder trial that Schuster didn't talk to his son the morning of July 12, 2003, as Schuster has testified.

Schuster told jurors she went to James Fagone's house to ask him where he allegedly moved the body of Schuster's estranged husband, Timothy Schuster, whom Schuster says Fagone confessed to murdering. But Anthony Fagone said today that his son was asleep when Schuster came to his house and that even though Schuster insisted on talking to James Fagone, Anthony Fagone refused to let her do so.

more at the link

[Seashell]

I hope the jury will take into account this woman worked in a Lab as well as:
Schuster has testified that she bought 18 bottles of hydrochloric acid and six bottles of sulfuric acid in the month before her husband's murder. She says the acid was needed to conduct a thorough cleaning of her lab equipment

cmon its obvious what she used the stuff for!

[TobyTiger]

I hope the jury will take into account this woman worked in a Lab as well as:
Schuster has testified that she bought 18 bottles of hydrochloric acid and six bottles of sulfuric acid in the month before her husband's murder. She says the acid was needed to conduct a thorough cleaning of her lab equipment

cmon its obvious what she used the stuff for!

That was about the most asinine statement I have heard her make during her otherwise ridiculous testimony.

Speaking of which, read my next post re: today's testimony...

[TobyTiger]

More of the prosecution rebuttal...

FORMER EMPLOYEES DIDN'T USE ACID TO CLEAN GLASS (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/244530.html)

3:10 p.m.: VAN NUYS – Joseph Boatwright and Leslie Fichera, two former employees at Larissa Schuster's research lab in Fresno, testified this afternoon in Schuster's murder trial that they never used hydrochloric acid to clean glassware during their employment at the lab.

Schuster has said that she purchased 45 liters of hydrochloric acid and 15 liters of sulfuric acid in the month before her husband's death because she planned to use the acid to thoroughly clean all the glassware in the lab.

Schuster, a 47-year-old former Clovis biochemist, is accused of killing her husband, Timothy Schuster, in July 2003 and sealing his body in a barrel of acid. Her trial is being held in Los Angeles County because a judge ruled that local media attention made it too difficult to find an impartial jury in Fresno County.

more at the link

[Seashell]

More of the prosecution rebuttal...

FORMER EMPLOYEES DIDN'T USE ACID TO CLEAN GLASS (http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/244530.html)

3:10 p.m.: VAN NUYS – Joseph Boatwright and Leslie Fichera, two former employees at Larissa Schuster's research lab in Fresno, testified this afternoon in Schuster's murder trial that they never used hydrochloric acid to clean glassware during their employment at the lab.

Schuster has said that she purchased 45 liters of hydrochloric acid and 15 liters of sulfuric acid in the month before her husband's death because she planned to use the acid to thoroughly clean all the glassware in the lab.

Schuster, a 47-year-old former Clovis biochemist, is accused of killing her husband, Timothy Schuster, in July 2003 and sealing his body in a barrel of acid. Her trial is being held in Los Angeles County because a judge ruled that local media attention made it too difficult to find an impartial jury in Fresno County.more at the link


Hellooooooo! wake up Judge! the poor man was eaten alive with acid till dead! :flamemad:
let them condemn the selfish *****! :flamemad:

[TobyTiger]

Hellooooooo! wake up Judge! the poor man was eaten alive with acid till dead! :flamemad:
let them condemn the selfish *****! :flamemad:
Nothing wrong with the Judge... he just had to make sure a conviction (from an overly biased jury) isn't overturned on appeal.
:patriot:

[TobyTiger]

SCHUSTER SAYS SHE'S BAFFLED BY TESTIMONY (http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/245682.html)

12/04/07 23:49:58

VAN NUYS -- Larissa Schuster, on trial accused of murdering her husband four years ago, said Tuesday she doesn't know why so many people she used to trust have marched into court to testify against her.

Her former best friend, Tami Belshay, says Schuster admitted she was at her research lab in Fresno at a time of night prosecutors find suspicious.

Schuster's former marriage counselor, Sallie Overpeck-Hunt, said Tuesday that Schuster was wrong when she told police that Overpeck-Hunt said she feared Schuster's husband might "snap."

And Anthony Fagone, the father of Schuster's former employee, James Fagone, directly contradicted Schuster's testimony about an important conversation Schuster said she had with his son.

Asked by prosecutor Dennis Peterson on Tuesday whether any of the witnesses might have a reason to testify falsely, Schuster said she could not think of one.

"There's nothing to my knowledge -- obviously she was mistaken," Schuster replied when asked whether Belshay might have an "unresolved issue" with her.

Tuesday was the last day of witness testimony in Schuster's 1 1/2-month trial held in a Los Angeles County courthouse...

more at the link

[Seashell]

lol her friends have turned on her, she deserves this "betrayal" kudos on the gutsy witnesses.
I know the judge did nothing wrong but the evidence against her is so evident and to look for an impartial jury is and was going to be hard considering the way the poor victim died.
lol i thought the little american icon is cute! :D

[TobyTiger]

lol her friends have turned on her, she deserves this "betrayal" kudos on the gutsy witnesses.
I know the judge did nothing wrong but the evidence against her is so evident and to look for an impartial jury is and was going to be hard considering the way the poor victim died.
lol i thought the little american icon is cute! :D

I do have to wonder what the jury is thinking right now...

[TobyTiger]

JUROR DISMISSED DURING CLOSING ARGUMENTS (http://www.ksee24.com/news/local/12226281.html)

A major setback for the Larissa Schuster trial Thursday.

Two months into the trial, and days before deliberations are to begin, a juror was r