DEATH BY PARKING – Episode 4 – Stack Parking


Another Ransom Demand…


had left an estranged father back east and been widowed for about six months. They met Sarah’s uncle,William Smythe-Jones, and her niece,Melissa, and Paul agreed to help find Sarah’s killer.As he drove home, Paul was thinking:Howdid the kidnappers knowhewas at theHollywoodBowl?After a forcedmeeting at his homewith the kidnappers, he was told there was another kidnapping, Melissa’s twin. Paul knew that Smyth-Jones was deeply involved in this caper and demanded clarification. “I had my own problems, thanks to the FBI,” the former mob boss said, “and I just let California slip away.The voidwas filled by amanwho has ties to the old country.He ran a local parking operating company.” Paul held up his hand and said: “Southern CaliforniaValet and Park.” Smythe- Jones smiled. “You really are good,Manning. He has ties to my operation through the old country. He also knew Sarah. He was jealous of her husband. I think you can see where this is going.”


P BY JVH


RIVATE INVESTIGATORPAULMANNINGFOUNDADEADWOMAN woman in the trunk of a car blocking his in the stack parking lot at the Hol- lywoodBowl.Once back home, Paul found an envelopewith a picture of the person in the trunk, very much alive, and a note saying they wanted $1 mil- lion. The woman turned out to be his sister-in-law’s best friend, Sarah, who


It was time for another chat with Antonio Petrochelli,


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owner ofCaliforniaValet and Park.The company ran the park- ing at theHollywood Bowl,was in a perfect position to ensure my car was blocked by the car with Sarah’s body in the trunk, and, we now knew, there was a connection between Sarah, her dead husband, and the company’s owner. Before I met with Petrochelli, I needed more information


about Sarah’s husband’s so called “accidental “ death.After her husband died undermysterious circumstances in the south of France, Sarah came to California to stay with her best friend,my wife’s sister. Paul Jr. had spent some time in Nice and knew a couple


of the detectives there. He called and got the skinny on the death of Sarah’s husband. “The police in Provence were helpful,” Paulo told me.


“Pierre LeTrec, Sarah’s husband, died when his car left the road and hit a tree. Itwas a dry road,middle of the day, no skid marks. The police said it looked like he just drove the car into the tree. “Here’s the funny part,” Paulo said. “LeTrec was ‘con-


nected’ with the French branch of the mob. I guess that’s how he met Sarah, at some meeting either in New Jersey or in France that was attended by her uncle. It might also be why therewas a falling out between Sarah and herUncle.He prob- ably didn’t want hermarrying into the business. “Anyway,my buddy with the Nice police toldme that the


death seemed too pat. The brake lines were smashed in the wreck, so they were unable to see if there was any tampering. But unless itwas suicide, the onlyway it could have happened was if he had no brakes. It was an inconclusive investigation, and since he was mobbed up, they really didn’t spend a lot of time on it. “Sarah was devastated,” Paulo said. “She returned to the


44 JULY 2009 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com


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